Unstructured data processing in plan modeling

ABSTRACT

An unstructured data input is accessed that includes an electronic communication. Content of the unstructured data is parsed to determine one or more terms in the unstructured data input. It is determined that one or more particular elements defined in a structured business data model correspond to the terms. Tags are assigned to the unstructured data based on the terms corresponding to the one or more particular elements, where the tags define an association between the unstructured data and the structured data model.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of and claims priority toU.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/751,526, filed Jun. 26, 2015, whichclaims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.62/018,386, filed Jun. 27, 2014, both of which are incorporated byreference herein in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates in general to the field of computer softwaremodeling and, more particularly, to business modeling.

BACKGROUND

Modern enterprises are competing in global markets that are increasinglycomplex and dynamic. A single enterprise may have a multitude ofdifferent departments, managers, and assignments, each having their ownrespective objectives, plans, and goals commensurate with theirrespective roles within the enterprise. Additionally, a singleenterprise may have one or more enterprise-wide goals that involve thecollaboration and involvement of its different departments, managers,and business units. For each goal, an enterprise may develop a plan forrealizing the goal. Collaboration within an organization can involve avariety of communication tools and a variety of individuals, includingcommunication via email, instant messaging, teleconferencing, discussionboards, and social networks. Collaboration can also includecommunications with parties outside the organization. Thesecommunications, as well as communications outside the organization, caninclude information relevant to the goals of the organization.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The patent or application file contains at least one drawing executed incolor. Copies of this patent or patent application publication withcolor drawing(s) will be provided by the Office upon request and paymentof the necessary fee.

FIG. 1 is a simplified schematic diagram of an example computing systemincluding a planning system;

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of an example system including anexample planning engine;

FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram representing principles of abusiness model;

FIG. 4 is a simplified block diagram representing principles ofhierarchical relationships defined in business models;

FIGS. 5A-5G are simplified block diagrams illustrating example featuresand models of example plan models;

FIG. 6 is a simplified block diagram illustrating processing of exampleunstructured data for use with an example planning system;

FIG. 7 is another simplified block diagram illustrating processing ofexample unstructured data for use with an example planning system;

FIG. 8 is a simplified block diagram illustrating an example workflowinvolving collaboration and planning of organization;

FIGS. 9A-9M are screenshots of example user interfaces for use inconnection with an example planning system;

FIGS. 10A-10E are flowcharts of example techniques for integratingplanning and collaboration in accordance with at least some embodiments.

Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicatelike elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Modern enterprises can often include complex organizations, such aslarge multinational corporations with multiple business units anddepartments operating in multiple different countries, as well asorganizations competing in multiple different marketplaces, includingmultiple product markets and geographical markets, among other examples.Organization can also include stock and commodity markets and exchanges,non-profit organizations, charities, religious organization, educationalinstitutions, joint-ventures, market segments, trade associations, andso on. Such organizations can adopt a variety of goals and plans inconnection with their respective operation, including for-profit andnot-for-profit goals. Planning and decision-making activities inconnection with these goals has become increasingly complex. Forinstance, such goals can be set at various levels within theorganization, including at the organization level (i.e., goals thatapply to the entire organization) as well as at various sub-levels, suchas the business unit sub-level, the department sub-level, the regionsub-level, the office sub-level, etc. Further, separate goals or planswithin an organization can be interrelated in that they involve similarbusiness objects, products, or services, or rely on similar orinterrelated metrics or other entities. Such business entities caninclude such entities as product categories, distribution channels,supply channels, customers, products, fiscal calendar terms, geographicregions and sub-regions, etc.

Further, the quality of an organization's business planning activitiescan be dependent on the quality of the information upon which anorganization's (and it's plans′) assumptions and goals are based.Collaboration within and outside of an enterprise is prevalent intoday's connected enterprise. Such collaboration can include discussionboards, social network threads, email conversations, instant messageconversations, voicemail messaging, teleconferencing, text messaging,and other forms of communication. Such collaboration mechanisms can beprocessed to extract text or other unstructured data describing theconversation(s) (e.g., voicemail or teleconference audio can beconverted to text using speech-to-text technologies, among otherexamples).

In many respects, discussions within and outside of an organization aredisconnected today from the enterprise planning process due to a loosecoupling or lack of technology to link the sometimes unstructuredcontent of these conversations from the structured nature of anenterprise plan (e.g., as defined in one or more software-based businessmodels). A system can be provided that provide a solution that modelsthe linkage of structured and unstructured content types withindiscussions that are relevant to a particular product, segment, or planand contextually present information from these discussions toparticular users based on their respective domains of influence. Thesystem utilizes an understanding of the individual entities within aplan as well as the hierarchies corresponding to an associatedorganization so that relevant discussions can be cascaded along thedimensional hierarchy or activity networks as well. Such a solution can,among other example advantages, reduce the time to action for newinformation that has a material impact on planning, improve forecastquality through the use of organizational knowledge, and improve qualityof assumptions underlying the models used by an organization (as well asgain visibility into these assumptions).

Planning activities can be modeled using software-based models to modelthe plans, goals, and outcomes within an organization. Such “planmodels” (as well as other models) can be accessed and used by systemsand users to assist in improving an organization's (or group oforganizations′) planning activities, as well as the realization of thegoals associated with their planning activities. A set of plan modelscan be provided, each plan model corresponding to a defined domainrelevant to an organization and modeling aspects of that domain as wellas the inputs and outcomes relevant to achieving or analyzing goals ofthe specified domain. Plan models can be used to enable interactive,quick, collaborative decision-making within an organization, includingalong particular user or department roles and functions. Additionally,plan models provide decision-makers of an organization with views intothe business entities and attributes relevant to the organization'sgoals, including views at various levels of abstraction and detail. Ingeneral, such plan model and business scenarios can be used to guide thedirection of real-world departments and business of an organization,whether for-profit or not-for-profit, to assist in the achieving of theorganization's (or multiple organizations′) varied goals. In someinstances, a plan model can incorporate principles and features of aGraphCube.

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram illustrating an exampleimplementation of a computing system 100 including a planning system 105capable of generating, maintaining, and serving a plurality of models tomodel aspects of an organization's business and further associate datafrom user collaborations to improve upon the models used in theorganization to coordinate plans, goals, and other objectives of theorganizations. Collaboration data can be accessed from a variety ofdifferent sources (e.g., 110), including social networking platforms,email servers, online or corporate discussion boards, among otherexamples. Further, source servers (e.g. 110) can include public andprivate online sources hosting information used in the models ofplanning system 105, including information to populate attributes ofmodel instances and information upon which assumptions, targets, anddrivers defined in the models of the planning system 105 are based.

In some implementations, a planning system 105 can further includeprograms, tools, and functionality allowing endpoint devices (e.g., 115,120), such as user devices, to access and interact with models,including models described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/410,222, filed Mar. 1, 2012 entitled “Global Market Modeling forAdvanced Market Intelligence” and U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/594,723, filed Aug. 24, 2012 entitled “PLAN MODELING”, each of whichis incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Users can interactwith the models to edit, build, and interlink models, as well as buildscenarios from the models, among other functionality and tools,including those discussed explicitly or implicitly herein. Endpoint userdevices (e.g., 115, 120) that can include display devices and userinterfaces allowing users (e.g., 150, 155, 160, 165) to interact withplanning system 105, models hosted or provided through the planningsystem 105, and applications, programs, and services hosted or providedby the planning system that allow users to perform tasks involving themodels, such as developing and comparing scenarios from the models,analyzing and generating working business plans for the organizationfrom the models, among other examples. In some instances, endpoint userdevices can include endpoint devices planning system 105 allowingadministrators, model developers, and other users to develop andmaintain plan models and plan model tools hosted or provided by theplanning system 105. Endpoint devices can also include computing devicesremote from at least a portion of the planning system 105 and accessingplanning system resources, such as model interaction tools and models,from the planning system 105 over one or more networks (e.g., 145). Insome implementations all or a portion of the planning system 105 can bedistributed to or implemented on endpoint devices (e.g., 115, 120, 135,140), such as client-specific models, software tools for use by clientsin interacting with and using models, etc.

In addition to endpoint devices, other systems can also act as clientsof planning system 105. For instance, application servers (e.g., 125)hosting one or more applications, services, and other software-basedresources can access and use plan models and functionality of planningsystem 105 in connection with the applications and services hosted bythe application server (e.g., 125). Enterprise computing systems (e.g.,130) (e.g., including an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system)) canalso interface with and use models and services provided through anexample planning system 105. For instance, enterprise-specific planmodels can be developed and used by endpoint devices (e.g., 145, 150)within the enterprise. In some instances, other enterprise tools andsoftware can be provided through enterprise computing system 130 andconsume data provided through plan models and plan-model-relatedservices of the planning system 105, among other examples.

In general, “servers,” “clients,” and “computing devices,” includingcomputing devices in example system 100 (e.g., 105, 110, 115, 120, 125,130, 135, 140, etc.), can include electronic computing devices operableto receive, transmit, process, store, or manage data and informationassociated with computing system 100. As used in this document, the term“computer,” “computing device,” “processor,” or “processing device” isintended to encompass any suitable processing device. For example, thesystem 100 may be implemented using computers other than servers,including server pools. Further, any, all, or some of the computingdevices may be adapted to execute any operating system, including Linux,UNIX, Microsoft Windows, Apple OS, Apple iOS, Google Android, WindowsServer, etc., as well as virtual machines adapted to virtualizeexecution of a particular operating system, including customized andproprietary operating systems.

Further, servers, clients, and computing devices (e.g., 105, 110, 115,120, 125, 130, 135, 140, etc.) can each include one or more processors,computer-readable memory, and one or more interfaces, among otherfeatures and hardware. Servers can include any suitable softwarecomponent or module, or computing device(s) capable of hosting and/orserving software applications and services (e.g., plan models and planmodel applications and services of the planning system 105, applicationsand services of application server 125, applications and services ofenterprise system 130, etc.), including distributed, enterprise, orcloud-based software applications, data, and services. For instance,servers can be configured to host, serve, or otherwise manage models anddata structures, data sets, software service and applicationsinterfacing, coordinating with, or dependent on or used by otherservices and devices. In some instances, a server, system, subsystem, orcomputing device can be implemented as some combination of devices thatcan be hosted on a common computing system, server, server pool, orcloud computing environment and share computing resources, includingshared memory, processors, and interfaces.

User or endpoint computing devices (e.g., 115, 120, 135, 140, etc.) caninclude traditional and mobile computing devices, including personalcomputers, laptop computers, tablet computers, smartphones, personaldigital assistants, feature phones, handheld video game consoles,desktop computers, internet-enabled televisions, and other devicesdesigned to interface with human users and capable of communicating withother devices over one or more networks (e.g., 145). Attributes of usercomputing devices, and computing device generally, can vary widely fromdevice to device, including the respective operating systems andcollections of software programs loaded, installed, executed, operated,or otherwise accessible to each device. For instance, computing devicescan run, execute, have installed, or otherwise include various sets ofprograms, including various combinations of operating systems,applications, plug-ins, applets, virtual machines, machine images,drivers, executable files, and other software-based programs capable ofbeing run, executed, or otherwise used by the respective devices.

Some computing devices (e.g., 105, 110, 115, 120, 125, 130, 135, 140,etc.) can further include at least one graphical display device and userinterfaces allowing a user to view and interact with graphical userinterfaces of applications and other programs provided in system 100,including user interfaces and graphical representations of programsinteracting with models and modeling tools and services provided, forexample, by a planning system 105. Moreover, while user computingdevices may be described in terms of being used by one user, thisdisclosure contemplates that many users may use one computer or that oneuser may use multiple computers.

While FIG. 1 is described as containing or being associated with aplurality of elements, not all elements illustrated within system 100 ofFIG. 1 may be utilized in each alternative implementation of the presentdisclosure. Additionally, one or more of the elements described inconnection with the examples of FIG. 1 may be located external to system100, while in other instances, certain elements may be included withinor as a portion of one or more of the other described elements, as wellas other elements not described in the illustrated implementation.Further, certain elements illustrated in FIG. 1 may be combined withother components, as well as used for alternative or additional purposesin addition to those purposes described herein.

Turning to FIG. 2, a simplified block diagram 200 is shown of an examplesystem including an example planning engine 205. In some instances,planning engine 205 can be hosted by a planning system, such as theplanning system 105 described in the example of FIG. 1. In otherexamples, instances of a planning engine 205 (including multipledistinct instances) can be hosted on enterprise computing platforms andother computing environments accessing and otherwise making use of planmodels (e.g., 210). A planning engine 205 can host, serve, maintain,access, or otherwise provide a set of models 210 used to model businessentities, relationships between these entities, potential businessoutcomes of a particular organization or plurality of organizations,among other examples. A planning engine 205 can additionally includefunctionality for using, building, and editing these models 210.Additional, functionality can be provided to mine user-generate feedbackdata (e.g., from discussion system 215 and/or source servers 130) tosupplement and improve upon models 210 as well as assumptions reliedupon in the models 210. Moreover, the example system 200 of FIG. 2 canfurther include one or more additional computing devices, systems, andsoftware-based tools (e.g., 115, 120, 130, 215, 220, 225, etc.)communicating with plan model engine 205, for instance, over one or morenetworks (e.g., 145).

In one example implementation, a planning engine 205 can include one ormore processors (e.g., 226) and memory elements (e.g., 228), as well asone or more software- and/or hardware-implemented components and toolsembodying functionality of the planning engine 205. In some examples, aplanning engine 205 can include, for instance, such components andfunctionality as a model instantiator 230, model generator 232, planmanger 234, risk and opportunity (R/O) manager 235, assumption manager240, task manager 242, and collaboration manager 245, among potentiallyother additional or alternative components, modules, and functionality,including combinations of functionality and tools described herein. Inaddition, in some implementations, a planning engine can include models210 either hosted local to the planning engine 205 or accessed fromremote model servers or other data stores. Functionality of planningengine 205 can access, utilize, and consume models generated through orin connection with the planning engine 205 as well as potentially modelsof other business modeling systems (e.g., another instance of a planningsystem and engine belonging to another enterprise distinct from theenterprise or host of planning engine 205), among other examples.

In some implementations, an example model instantiator 230 can includefunctionality for identifying and accessing models 210, including planmodels and models modeling entities within an organization includingproducts, services, departments, and business units within theorganization, among other examples. In some implementations, a modelinstantiator can also identify instances where a plan model is to begenerated, edited, or otherwise modified. An example model generator 230can be included possessing functionality for creating or editing planmodels. In some instances, a plan model can be generated byinstantiating an instance of a preexisting plan model, plan modeltemplate (or class), among other examples. Further, in someimplementations, user interfaces and controls can be provided inconnection with an example model generator 232 allowing human orautomated users to input data to populate attributes of various modelinstances. In some instances, source data (e.g., 246) can also becollected, requested, retrieved, or otherwise accessed to populateattribute fields, build logic of the plan model, and be otherwise used(e.g., by model generator 232) to generate an instantiation of aparticular model for addition to the set of plan models 210.

In some cases, models used and generated by planning engine 205 (e.g.,through model instantiator 230 and model generator 232), can includemodels of entities, assumptions, processes, and scenarios relating to aplan of an organization. Such plan models can be defined by anorganization as a model of a current working plan, goal, assumption, orapproach to be considered by the organization both in its analysis ofother business scenarios as well as drive the real world behavior anddecision-making of the organization. Various versions of one or moreplan models (or other models that relate to or support the modeling ofan organization's plan(s)) can be tracked and managed using an exampleplan manager 234. For instance, a plan manager 235 can manage status ofplan models, including modeled scenarios generated based on plan models.For example, a particular modeled scenario can be designated as acurrent working model, adopted business plan, etc. of an organization,and serve as a guide to the organization's decision makers andemployees. The plan manager 234 can further include functionality forgenerating hypothetical business scenarios based on one or more planmodels. Such scenarios can include modeled scenarios based on particularor varying input drivers (e.g., modeling real world business-relatedinputs affecting a particular business goal or outcome), as well asbased on particular goals (e.g., modeling hypothetical conditions thatcould result in a particular outcome). Additionally, someimplementations of plan manager 234 can further include functionalityadapted to provide guidance to users in connection with the generationor modification of a particular scenario or comparisons of generatedscenarios. Further, implementations of a plan manager 234 canadditionally include functionality for comparing generated scenarios,for instance, to determine whether a particular scenario is superior toanother. In instances where a user determines that a particular modeledscenario is superior to other scenarios, including scenarios previouslydesignated as current or adopted working models, the particular scenariocan be flagged, saved, promoted, or otherwise specially designated, forinstance, as a working or adopted scenario of the organization relatingto particular goals of the organization, among other examples.

As noted above, in some instances, a particular plan model in a set ofplan models 210 can model business outcomes relating to a particularbusiness unit, department, domain, or sub-organization of anorganization. Accordingly, some plan models may better relate to or beunderstandable to particular subsets of users and decision-makers withinan organization. Indeed, one or more plan models can be provided andassociated with each department, business unit, etc. of an organizationhaving associated plan models in the network relevant to the particularentities, outcomes, work, and goals of that sub-organization. With eachsub-organization utilizing, controlling, and accessing its own relatedplan models, collaborative decision-making and scenario-planning can beaccomplished across an organization as the network of plan models modelsinterplay and interconnectedness of various goals and outcomes of thevarious sub-organizations. Indeed, in some implementations, interactionswith some models, including plan models, can be at least partiallyrestricted, limited, or otherwise organized to provide varying levels ofaccess to the models based on a user's respective association with,ownership, or expertise in the sub-organization, product, business,unit, etc. to which the particular models are related. In connectionwith this, models can be defined and used to define such aspects asusers' roles, identities, and attributes as well as the users'respective permissions, access, and associations to one or morerespective models, among other examples.

While information can be obtained from more structured or organizedsources, such as websites, online articles, databases, and other sourcesof market or organization information, organizations themselves generatelarge amounts of data through digital communications and collaborationswithin the organization (or to and from the organization and third partycustomers, vendors, partners, etc.). In some implementations, acollaboration manager 245 can be provided that can mine discussion data(e.g., 250) acquired by, sent to, or accessible to the planning engine205 and identify discussions and collaborations that relate to entitiesand/or plans modeled in models 210. As models 210 can definerelationships between entities, between plans, between entities andplans, etc., associations identified in discussion data can be extendedbased on the relationships defined in models 210. While collaborationmanager 245 can include logic for identifying associations betweendiscussion data (e.g., 250) and models 210, collaboration manager 245can also include functionality to provide or supplement a user interfaceto permit tagging of discussion data by users to more manually associatea given discussion with one or more models. The collaboration manager245 can provide a subset of available tags and these tags can be basedon relationships and entities defined in models 210. The collaborationmanager 245 can further utilize models 210 by identifying particularpersons, such as department, segment, or business unit owners ormanagers that are associated with a particular plan or entity, which thecollaboration manager has identified as associated with a particulardiscussion or collaboration in discussion data 250, among otherexamples.

Additional tasks and actions can be performed on discussions identified(e.g., by collaboration manager 245) as associated with a given businessentity or plan. For instance, user feedback can be received to identifyat least a portion of a discussion as evidence of a risk or opportunityassociated with the related business entity or plan. A risk can be anevent, circumstance, trend, or condition that suggests that a businessentity or plan (e.g., modeled in models 210) will be affectednegatively. An opportunity, on the other hand, can be an event,circumstance, trend, or condition that suggests that a business entityor plan is likely to be affected or impacted positively. Users,appreciating the implication of a condition, fact, event, etc. expressedin a particular portion of a discussion, can tag that portion of thediscussion as representing a risk or opportunity. The risk oropportunity can then be associated with any plans or business entitiesidentified as associated with the discussion. An R/O manager 235 can beprovided to implement this functionality, including definingassociations between risks and opportunities and modeled entities andplans, as well as supporting user interfaces receiving user inputsindicating whether a discussion is evidence of a risk or opportunity,among other related functionality.

A discussion, or part of a discussion, can also serve as evidence of theaccuracy (or inaccuracy) of an assumption (e.g., a particular attributevalue, formula, relationship, etc.) upon which a model (e.g., in 210)depends. For instance, the content of a user entry in a discussion canindicate that an assumption over- or under-estimates a condition oreffect, or alternatively indicate that an assumption is on target.Assumptions can be tracked and adjusted where appropriate. An assumptionmanager 240 can be provided in some implementations to allow authorizedusers to track the historical accuracy of assumptions in one or moremodels 210. The basis for determining that an assumption is accurate ornot can be established through empirical data from sources (e.g., 130),such as empirical data that indicate the true value realized for aparticular measure. The basis of an assumption's accuracy can also bebased on information expressed by users in discussion data 250.Assessing the accuracy of an assumption can be done retrospectively(e.g., after the actual value or relationship has been observed forcomparison with the corresponding assumption used in the model) orprospectively (e.g., based on information that indicates that theassumption is likely to end up being accurate/inaccurate). Further, asprospective feedback is received regarding the accuracy of anassumption, an owner of the model(s) relying on the assumption can benotified (e.g., using planning engine 205 logic) to allow the owners toassess the effect of the feedback on the model, as well as plans definedby the model. In some cases, a user can adjust an assumption to accountfor new information obtained from feedback received (e.g., in discussiondata) indicating that the assumption is not entirely accurate.

Tasks related to plans and business entities modeled in models 210 canbe defined and managed using, for instance, a task manager 242 ofplanning engine 205. In some cases, functionality can be provided toassign tasks based on user feedback or discussions received inconnection with planning engine, including associated discussion dataidentified by collaboration manager 245, risk and opportunityindications defined using RIO manager 235, and assumption feedbackreceived through assumption manger 240, among other potential eexamples. For instance, a task can be assigned based on a risk oropportunity identified by a user or in response to an indication that aparticular assumption is inaccurate. Such tasks can relate toinvestigating and/or addressing the issues related to the respectiveindication. Additionally, such user feedback and discussion data can beassociated with an existing task or with a new task during thedefinition of the task, to assist the users assigned to perform andsupervise the task with additional context and intelligence relating tothe assigned task. The task manager 242 can provide furtherfunctionality, including monitoring and tracking progress of a task,task assignments, and other functions related to the creation,assignment, and management of tasks relating to business and planningand associated models 210, among other examples.

Discussion data (e.g., 250) can be obtained from a variety of sources.For instance, a discussion system 215, such as a private or publicsocial network platform, instant messaging platform, discussion boardplatform, or other platform or tool facilitating discussion and/orcollaboration between users, can generate discussion data describing thecommunications of users utilizing the discussion system. The discussionsystem can be owned by an organization and facilitate discussionsspecifically for that organization, or the discussion system can be aplatform offered as a service to multiple customers and used by multipledifferent organizations. In some implementations, an example discussionsystem (e.g., 215) can include one or more processors (e.g., 226) andmemory elements (e.g., 228), as well as one or more software- and/orhardware-implemented components and tools embodying functionality of adiscussion engine 255 that provides the discussion or collaborationplatform to users.

Users can participate in discussions and collaboration provided bydiscussion system 215 utilizing various endpoint devices (e.g., 115,120, 218, 220, 225, etc.). Endpoint devices can include one or moreprocessors (e.g., 258, 260) and memory elements (e.g., 262, 264), anoperating system (e.g., 265, 266), as well as one or more applicationsand other software programs, including programs (e.g., 268, 270, 272)that facilitate interaction with discussion system 215. In someimplementations, a discussion system (e.g., 215) can provide a web-basedinterface accessible using an internet browser (e.g., 268). In otherinstances, a discussion system client, such as a discussion tool 270,can be installed on the endpoint device (e.g., 225) to allow a user toutilize the discussion platform hosted by discussion system 215. Ineither case, users can generate discussion posts and other discussionand collaboration data, as well as view the discussion posts generatedby others utilizing endpoint devices (e.g., 220, 225). In some cases,functionality can be provided by the discussion system 215 itself tosupport tagging and feedback of discussion posts and discussion data byusers in connection with the features provided by planning system 205,including risk and opportunity tagging, associating discussions withmodels 210, providing assumptions feedback, among other examples. Inother instances, a discussion client can be provided with supplementalfunctionality to permit a user to provide additional inputs inconnection with a discussion or collaboration hosted by discussionsystem 215, such as indications of an association with a model,indication of a risk or opportunity, indication of the accuracy of oneor more model assumptions, among other examples. In some instances, aspecialized discussion tool (e.g., 270) can be provided with suchadditional functionality (e.g., compatible with planning system 205), orthe discussion tool (such as a web browser) can be supplemented with aplug-in or other software tool that provides users with the ability toprovide planning-related feedback in connection with discussions orcollaborations facilitated through a discussion system 215, among otherimplementations.

User inputs received from user endpoints in connection with discussionshosted by discussion system 215 can be described in discussion data.Other discussion or collaboration data (collectively discussion data)can be collected by other systems, such as email servers, discussionboard servers, etc., and planning system 205 can access discussion datafrom potentially multiple different sources. For instance, thecollaboration manager 245 can access discussion data from varioussources (e.g., 130, 215) and identify portions of the discussion datathat correspond to plans and/or business entities modeled by models 210.In some cases, an application programming interface (API) (e.g., 256)can be provided through which the planning engine can access discussiondata generated, collected, or otherwise managed by the discussion system215. In still other implementations, the discussion system 215 can beintegrated with planning engine 205 and facilitate discussions andcollaborations to be associated with information included in models 210.

Turning to the example of FIG. 3, a simplified representation 300 isshown representing principles of an example modeling approach (such asimplemented in models 210). An enterprise can be modeled usingdimensional and activity network constructs. For instance, suchconstructs can be derived from an industry reference model that formsthe basis of modeling any enterprise within the industry. The referencemodel shown in FIG. 3 includes some of the basic entities that reflectsome of the key plans and models to depict an enterprise. For instance,market intelligence 305 (collected from one or more sources) can be usedto develop a model of an enterprise 310, which further models thevarious revenue segments 315 pursued by the enterprise (or businessunit) and the spend domains 320 of the enterprise. Models of theserevenue segments and/or spend domains can include additional sub-models(e.g., 325), such as models of activities and resources within eachspend domain, among other examples. The various plans and models (e.g.,of a model of enterprise 310) can be linked through measures andrelationships. The relationships between the various plan entities caninclude relationships that are hierarchical in nature modeled usingdimensional constructs or relationships that are relational and modeledusing either association matrix constructs or graph networkrepresentations, among other examples. The models can incorporate boththese types so that relationships include both hierarchical and relatedconcepts. This translates to a rich metadata representation within theapplication that understands and maintains relationships for the variouselements including ancestors (parent relationships), descendants(children relationships), siblings, related, associated, etc.Meta-models can be further maintained to define these relationships,including dimensional and graph meta-models (e.g., (dimensions,hierarchies, attributes, network, relationships etc.)

FIG. 4 is a simplified representation 400 of hierarchical relationshipsdefined for an example product dimension, such as can be defined incorresponding meta-models of a planning system. For instance, theexample product dimension can be hierarchical in nature, with eachproduct/service category (e.g., C1) having corresponding brands (e.g.,B1, B2) under the category. The brands can have individual products (orservices) under the brand within the hierarchy, such as SKU1 and SKU2under brand B1, etc.

FIG. 5A shows a simplified representation 500 a of an examplesoftware-implemented plan model 501, in accordance with someimplementations. A plurality of instances of plan model 501 can bedeveloped, each instance of plan model 501 modeling a respectivebusiness outcome of an organization (or group of organizations),including business outcomes relating to administrative, educational,charity, commercial, industrial, logistic, and other for profit andnot-for-profit activities of the organization. In one exampleimplementation, a plan model can include a scope model 502, an inputdrivers model 503, a sensitivity model 504, and outcome measures model505. Additional models can be included in or linked to by a respectiveplan model, such as entity models, member models, and hierarchy models,among other examples. Additionally, in some implementations, plan modelscan each include a process model for use in managing planning activitiesinvolving the plan model as well as coordinating planning activitiesbetween multiple plan models. Further, one or more designated users,user roles, or users within particular sub-organization (collectivelyusers 506 a-d) can interact with and use the plan model, for instance,in connection with planning activities within one or more organizations,among other examples.

A scope model 502 can identify and model the specific domain within anorganization on which the particular instance of the plan model 501operates and is associated with. Domains can be relatively broad ornarrow and capture certain segments of a particular organization. Thescope model 502 can further enable certain domain-specific planningprocesses and logic relevant to the corresponding domain within theorganization. Input drivers model 503 can represent one or more inputdrivers specifying key variables influencing outcome measures modeled bythe particular domain-specific instance of the plan model 501.Accordingly, outcome measures model 505 can model and represent theoutcome measures that the particular instance of the plan model willstate, predict or attempt to achieve in its modeling of a particularbusiness outcome(s) which can also be expressed as one or more of theoutcome measures modeled in outcome measures model 505. A sensitivitymodel 504 can define the dependencies, relationships, processes,formulas, and other logic used to derive values of various outcomemeasures from values of input drivers of the plan model 501. Suchdependencies, relationships, processes, formulas, and other logic(collectively dependencies) can be domain-specific as well as define howvalues of intermediate outcome measures or input drivers can be derivedfrom other input drivers or outcome measure values, among otherexamples.

Turning to the example of FIG. 5B, a simplified schematic block diagram500 b is shown of a particular example instance of a plan model 501 a.In this example, the plan model 501 a is an optimal television businessplan model modeling outcomes for a particular product category of abusiness (e.g., a business selling televisions). As in the example ofFIG. 5A, example plan model instance 501 a can include a scope model 502a, input drivers model 503 a, sensitivity model 504 a, and outcomemeasures model 505 a. Scope model 502 a defines a domain to which themodeled outcomes of plan model 501 a apply. For instance, scope model502 a can model a domain encompassing a particular product category(i.e., TVs), within one or more geographic regions (or market regions),and within a particular period of time (e.g., a fiscal quarter, year,five year span, etc.). Accordingly, scope model 502 a can define thedomain according to one or more business entities, such as regions,product categories, and fiscal calendar, among other examples. Moreover,in this implementation, scope model 502 a can include entity models 507,508, 509 corresponding to the relevant business entities used to definethe domain in the scope model 502 a (e.g., geographic region, productcategory, fiscal calendar period, etc.).

A plan model's domain, as defined in its scope model (e.g., 502) candrive other models (e.g., 503, 504, 505) of the plan model as theinputs, outcomes, and relationships between outcomes and inputs (e.g.,as defined in sensitivity model 504) can be highly domain-specific andtied back to the particular business entities used to define the modeleddomain. For instance, in the example input drivers model 503 can includesuch input drivers, or variables, pertaining to a television productcategory and product market region for televisions, including inputdrivers such as channel coverage, price, product differentiation,consumer awareness, cost of goods sold (COGS) or inventory cost, salesspend, marketing spend, etc. Similarly, outcome measures relevant to theoutcome, or goal, modeled for the defined domain can be defined inoutcome measures model 505, such as market share percentage, netrevenue, gross margin, total spend, operating profit, etc.

It should be appreciated that FIG. 5B is but one illustrative example,and that plan models can model a potentially limitless variety of plans.Accordingly, plan models can model outcomes of corresponding domainsthat result in sets of input drivers and outcome measures quitedifferent from the input drivers and outcome measures of the particularexample of FIG. 5B. However, other plan models can also be developed fordifferent domains (e.g., a different market region, different product,products of a different organization, etc.) that include input driversand outcome measures similar to those of the optimal television businessplan model 501 b. The dependencies of the respective outcome measures onthe respective input measures of a particular domain, however, canfluctuate considerably between domains. For instance, sensitivity of amarket share outcome measure to particular input drivers such as priceor product differentiation can be quite different in two differentmarkets, including different product markets and market regions.Accordingly, sensitivity model 504 can define domain-specificdependencies between input drivers and outcome measures for a plan modelof a particular domain, representing the sensitivities of the outcomemeasures to the respective input drivers upon which the value of theoutcome measure is dependent.

Turning to FIG. 5C, a simplified block diagram 500 c is shownillustrating an example scope model structure. For instance, instancesof a scope model 502 b included in plan models can include an includedentities model 510, one or more included members models 512, and one ormore included hierarchies models 515 corresponding to those businessentities designated as defining the particular domain of the scope modelinstance 502 b. The included entities model 510 and included membermodels 512 can reference or link to one or more entity models 518,member type models 520, and member models 522 maintained in connectionwith a plan model system. As noted above and in other example discussedherein, business entities can include such entities as regions,organizations, persons, products, product categories, market regions,market segments, channels, calendar periods, time, locations, customers,suppliers, factories, and so on. The entities included in the domain canbe defined in included entities model 510. A particular business entitycan have constituent subcategories of business entities, or membertypes, and particular members of these entity member types can beincluded in the particular domain to which a plan model applies.Accordingly, in some examples, each entity designated in includedentities model can have a corresponding set of designated members of therespective entity designated in a respective included member model 512.Additionally, for each designated entity, a set of included hierarchies(or included different possible hierarchical representations of theincluded members of an entity) can be designated in included hierarchiesmodels 515, each entity having its own included hierarchy model 515. Inother implementations, the sets of included members and/or includedhierarchies can be defined in a single included member model for thescope model 502 b or a single included hierarchies model for the scopemodel 502 b (i.e., rather than distinct included member models 512 andincluded hierarchies models 515 for each individual entity designated inan included entities model 510), among other examples.

Further, a scope model 502 b can reference (e.g., through includedentities model 510) corresponding entity models 518 of the designatedincluded entities of the domain modeled by the scope model. Entitymodels 518 can model a particular entity as well as the member types ofthe entity, hierarchies of the entity, and other attributes andinformation pertaining to the individual entity. Member type models 520can also be referenced through the scope model, each member type model520 modeling a particular type of the business entity as well asdefining relevant attributes of that member type (or member typeattributes). Further, member models 522 can be referenced, correspondingto the included member models 512, each member model 522 defining theindividual members within a particular modeled domain. Each member canbe of a particular one of the member type models 520. In someimplementations, included member models 512 can be defined for eachentity of the domain and included as sub-models of the entity models518. Relationships between entities, member types, members (or groups(or “sets”) of members), and particular member type attributes can behierarchical and, in some instances, be organized in multi-dimensionalhierarchies that allow members, member groups, and member typeattributes to organized in multiple different alternate hierarchies.Such hierarchical organizations can be defined, in some instances,through included hierarchies models 515.

Turning to FIG. 5D, an example block diagram 500 b is shown of asimplified hierarchy of a business entity as can be captured through oneor more models of the corresponding scope model and/or entity model of acorresponding included business entity including corresponding membertype models, member models, included hierarchies models, etc. Forinstance, in the particular example of FIG. 5D, a member type can be oneof a plurality of member types of an entity and each member type (e.g.,525 a) can include one or more instances, or members (e.g., 528), ofthat particular member type (e.g., 525 a). The member type (e.g., 525 a)can define a set of member type attributes (e.g., 530 a-c) relevant tomembers of that type and that can define members of that type. Indeed,each member (and member model) of a particular member type can inheritthe member type attributes of the corresponding member type. Toillustrate, turning to FIG. 5E, an example entity 518 b is illustratedcorresponding to a product business entity. Within the globalmarketplace a wide variety of different products may exist fromsmartphones, printers, and digital video recorders to cardboardpackaging, breakfast cereal, and tissue papers, among scores of otherexamples. Further, in the example of product business entities, variousproducts may have relevance to different organizations and differentgoals within the same organization. Accordingly, plan models can includeproduct business entities within their domains for different reasons inmodeling particular outcomes, including domains corresponding toparticular products of a particular business unit of an organization,corresponding to competitor products, corresponding to marketingbudgets, inventory, etc.

In the particular example 500 e of FIG. 5E, a scope model can define aparticular domain to which a particular plan model applies by definingtwo particular member types within the product business entity 518 b, inthis example, a televisions member type (525 b) and computer member type(525 c). Each of the member types 525 b, 525 c can respectively define aset of member-type attributes (e.g., 532 a, 532 b) describing featuresand details generally relevant to members of that type. For example, atelevision member type 525 b can include member type attributes such asthe refresh rate, screen size, and technology (e.g., LED, LCD, plasma,etc.) of a particular television (i.e., member of the television membertype), including other potential television-related attributes.Similarly, a computer member type, while a member type of the samebusiness entity (e.g., Product), can have a different set of attributescorresponding to features and specifications of computers, such asprocessor type, processor speed, memory, hard drive, etc.

Each member of a member type can be defined, at least in part, accordingto attribute values defined for the member. For instance, a variety ofdifferent attribute values (e.g., 534) may exist among a set of members.For example, a first television member considered in the domain may be a120 Hz 42″ LCD television, while a second television member in thedomain is a 240 Hz 46″ plasma model. In some instances, multiple membersin a member type can share one or more attribute values. Shared membertype attributes can serve as the basis for member groups. For instance,a group of members of the example television member type of FIG. 5C canbe defined based on screen size, with a group of televisions beingdefined for 36″ televisions, 42″ televisions, 46″ televisions, and soon.

Turning to the example of FIG. 5F, a simplified block diagram is shownrepresenting a network 550 a of plan models (e.g., 501 b, 501 c, 501 d,501 e, 501 f, 501 g, 501 h, 501 i, 501 j, 501 k). Plan models in thenetwork 550 can be interconnected with one or more different other planmodels in the network 550 based on one or more input drivers of the planmodel being dependent on one or more outcome measures (or even inputdrivers) of another plan model in the network 550. Further, a plan modelin the network 550 can also be interconnected with other plan models inthe network 550 by virtue of an outcome measure (or input driver) of theplan model driving values of input drivers of the other plan model. Eachplan model in the network 550 with respective included scope models,input drivers models, outcome measures models, sensitivity models,process models, etc. The respective models of each plan model in thenetwork 550 can be tailored to model outcomes for a particular, distinctdomain within the network, including representative scope models, setsof input drivers and outcome measures, etc.

Further, different users (or groups of users) (e.g., 555, 556) within anorganization (or organizations) of the network 550 of plan models can beassigned to or associated with particular plan models in the network550. Such associations can be based, for instance, on the users'respective roles, office locations, departments, etc. within theorganization, with particular plan models being made available to thoseusers corresponding to the particular defined domain of the respectiveplan model. As a simplified example, a particular user can be a managerof a particular department of an organization that is responsible forone or more different product lines. As the particular user 1118 can beresponsible for managing, planning, and making decisions within thisparticular realm of the organization, the particular user 555 can beassociated with plan models that relate to the user's role, such as planmodels (e.g., 501 d, 501 j, 501 k) with domains corresponding to theparticular department or constituent product lines of the user. Beingassociated with the plan models can authorize access and use of therespective plan models 501 d, 501 j, 501 k associated with the user insome instances. Other users not associated with the plan models 501 d,501 j, 501 k may be blocked or limited in their ability to access anduse the plan model 501 d, 501 j, 501 k. However, other users (e.g., 556)can be associated with other plan models (e.g., 501 i) with domains morepertinent to their role within an organization. Some users can beassociated with multiple plan models based on their role(s) within theorganization, among other examples.

Dependencies between values of outcome measures (or other input drivers)of one plan model and input drivers (or outcome measures) of anotherplan model can be defined through link expressions. FIG. 5G illustratesone potential example of link expressions (e.g., 566, 568, 570, 572,574, 576, 578, 580, 582) between example plan models (e.g., 501 m, 501n, 501 o, 501 p, 501 q) in a network 550 b of plan models. In theexample of FIG. 11B, input drivers of each of the represented planmodels 501 m, 501 n, 501 o, 501 p, 501 q are listed in a right columnand outcome measures in a left column. For instance, example Optimal TVBusiness Plan plan model 584 can include input drivers Coverage, Price,and Spend while including outcome measures Share and Revenue. As furtherillustrated by FIG. 5G, inputs drivers of the example Optimal TVBusiness Plan plan model 501 m can be based on outcome measures of otherplan models. For instance, values of Coverage input driver of exampleOptimal TV Business Plan plan model 584 can be dependent on a Coverageoutcome measure of example Optimal TV Sales Plan plan model 585, thedependency defined through a link expression 578. Similarly, the Priceinput driver of plan model 584 can be dependent on a Price outcomemeasure of plan model 585 and the Spend input driver of plan model 501 mcan be dependent on multiple outcome measures (Sales Spend and R&DSpend) of two different plan models (e.g., 501 n, 501 o), withrespective link expressions (e.g., 582, 575) defining the dependenciesbetween the respective input drivers and outcome measures, among otherexamples.

Link expressions (e.g., 566, 568, 570, 572, 574, 576, 578, 580, 582) caninterconnect example plan models (e.g., 501 m, 501 n, 501 o, 501 p, 501q) in a network 550 b of plan models and further enable scenarioplanning, analyses, and other uses across multiple plan models. This canfurther enable users of the network of plan models to cross-collaborateand plan across multiple, corresponding domains within an organization.This can also facilitate propagation of user-provided feedback regardinga model and its modeled entities, including discussions orcollaborations identified as associated with the entities, risks oropportunities identified for plans, user feedback of assumptions of theplan models, among other examples.

As introduced above, a planning system can accept unstructured data fromemail and other sources and process content of the unstructured data toestablish connections between such content and data contained in astructured data model such as the plan models (and network of planmodels) described herein. Unstructured data can be collected andprocessed from a variety of sources to make the content of thisunstructured data contextually available to users of the planning systemas they reviewing the structured data (e.g., of the plan model(s)).Users can search the enterprise model and data together with theunstructured data, and the system can provide results and graphicalrepresentations that incorporate both the structured and unstructureddata to assist in enabling interactive, quick, collaborative decisionmaking for a given user role or roles and functions to achieve thespecified domain's goals (and the user's expected contributions to thesegoals).

In some implementations, unstructured data can be received as a streamof inputs (e.g., individual communications). The input stream canconsist of email, text-based instant messages, voice data, feeds fromexternal systems (via APIs of the planning system), and any othermechanism by which content can be exchanged between systems. Each of theinputs can be scanned to determine whether the respective input isrelevant to any one of the structured data models of the system, as wellas specific entities modeled within the model. Unstructured data inputs,such as emails, may not possess tags, metadata, or other identifiers(e.g., hashtags) that designate keywords, taxonomies, or categorizationsrelevant to the input. Matches can be found between the inputs and oneor more structured data models. Tags can then be employed to record thediscovery of connecting the models with the unstructured content.

As detailed herein, in addition to determining associations withunstructured data inputs, a planning system can provide, or beassociated with, a mechanism for generating unstructured data, such asthrough a discussion system. For instance, a graphical interface can beprovided through which the user can create and submit unstructured data.In some implementations, additional capabilities can be offered,including offering the users the ability to convert an unstructured textto a structured data element, among other example features. In oneexample, users' textual inputs can be autocompleted with suggestionsdrawn from the structured data model.

By supplementing a structured data model with unstructured data inputs,use of the planning system can be enhanced. For instance, when users arereviewing data from the structured data model for information about agiven business entity or entities, the system can scan the unstructureddata (e.g., as received in real time or from a repository ofunstructured data) for the discovered tags or keywords in theunstructured data. Such content can be provided inside views thatdisplay data form the structured data model to illustrate associationsdetermined between particular unstructured data inputs and particularportions of the structured data models. Further, content of thestructured data models can be enriched by populating, modifying, orotherwise enhancing values of attributes defined within the data modelswith content extracted from unstructured content.

Turning to FIG. 6, a data scanner 605 can be provided in someimplementations of a planning system (e.g., 105). The data scanner 605can be configured to receive or otherwise access unstructured data 610from a variety of sources 615, 620, 625 and prepare the unstructureddata 610 a to be associated with structured data models, such as modelsin a network of plan models 501. The data scanner can reformat theunstructured data to prepare the unstructured data 610 a for processingto determine associations between the unstructured data 610 a and themodels (e.g., 501). Natural language processing logic 606 can beprovided in some implementations to process text in unstructured data610 a. A model search engine 608 can be provided that is configured toparse the plan models' structure and identify defined model elements 630(e.g., entities in entity models (e.g., 518), member types in membertype models (e.g., 520), members in member models (e.g., 522), etc.),which may have corresponding sub-models within the respective plan model501, as well as attributes 635 (e.g., attributes names and values ofeach attribute) of each model element 630 in the plan model(s). Thesearch engine 608 can access and query the structured data models 501based on specific terms or phrases identified within at least some ofthe unstructured data messages or inputs 610 a.

The scanner 605 can further determine that at least some of the terms orphrases identified within the unstructured inputs 610 a match, aresimilar to, or otherwise relate to specific model elements 630 and/orattributes 635 within the structured data models 501. Tags (e.g., 640)can be defined based on these associations. The tags 640 can be appendedto, embedded within, linked to, or otherwise associated with thecorresponding unstructured data input (at 610 b) in which the associatedterms or phrases were found. The tags 640 can define the associationbetween these unstructured data inputs 610 b and related specific modelelements and attributes. The tags 640 can be further used to defineassociations between the respective unstructured inputs 610 b and thecorresponding plan model and the sub-models modeling these specificelements and attributes.

Tags 640 can be used to facilitate enhancement of a planning system(including a network of plan models 501) through the variousunstructured data 610 a accessible to the planning system. For example,user interactions with the network of plan models may generate resultsthat present various portions of the plan models to the user (e.g.,through a graphical user interface (such as illustrated herein)). If aquery, scenario, search, or other interaction with the network modelsidentifies one or more specific plan models or sub-models of these planmodels, a subset of a library of defined tags (e.g., 640) can beidentified that correspond to the identified plan models and/orsub-models (e.g., a specific outcome measures model, input driversmodel, entity model, member type model, member model, etc.). The set oftagged unstructured data (e.g., 610 b) can then be searched to identifythose unstructured inputs 610 b (e.g., emails, discussion board entries,user product reviews from third party websites, user text or voicemessages, etc.) that have been identified as relating to the structureddata model and the user's particular plan model interactions. Theserelated unstructured inputs can then also be presented or made availablefor inspection in connection with graphical user interfaces utilized bythe user to interact with these specific structured data models (e.g.,plan models and sub-models). The information within the unstructuredinputs 610 b can provide additional context and information to the user,thereby enhancing the user's interactions with the plan models 501.Additionally, associations between specific unstructured inputs 610 band particular structured model attributes (e.g., 635) defined by thetags 640 can be used to identify opportunities to update or supplementvalues of the attributes, as stored in the structured models, withvalues identified (e.g., by scanner 605) in the associated unstructuredinput. For instance, an unstructured input may name a value (e.g., anumeric, logical, or string value) or include information that can beinterpreted (by the scanner 605) as a value that maps to a value of oneof the associated attributes (e.g., 635). The planning system canautomatically update values of structured data model attributes, in someimplementations, based on the scanning of unstructured data (e.g., 610a) and determining association between the unstructured data (e.g.,through tags 640) and models and model attributes of the structured datamodels (e.g., 501).

As one illustrative example, an email may be captured by the planningsystem and passed to data scanner 605. In some implementations, the datascanner may be implemented together with the planning system. Indeed,the data scanner can access and utilize the network of plan models (orprimitives describing the structure(s) of the network of plan models),to scan unstructured data within the context of the structure of one ormore plan models. In some cases, the data scanner can be a serviceconsumable by the planning system. The data scanner can scan the emailto identify text referencing a product offered by a particular beveragemanufacturer, such as a competitor company, in this example, a softdrink “Cola X” offered by “Company X”. The data scanner 605 can beutilized to identify the text and interpret that the text referencessoft drink Cola X. In one example, the data scanner 605 can be providedas a service to scan unstructured data relating to any one of aplurality of different networks of plan models (e.g., hosted by one ormore instances of a planning system). The data scanner 605 can determinethat the email corresponds to a particular organization “Company Y”(competing with Company X) and recognize that “Cola X” maps to a member(e.g., a member of a plan model modeling competing products of CompanyY) of a particular one of a plurality of networks of plan models (orsimply a particular subset of plan models) 501 of the planning systemcorresponding to Company Y. In some instances, the data scanner 605 canbe a dedicated instance of an organization (e.g., local to an enterprisesystem corresponding to organization) and can assume that allunstructured data it receives or accesses corresponds to a particularnetwork of plan models. In either implementation, the data scanner 605can search the structured data of the identified particular network ofplan models for particular plan models (and sub-models of theseparticular plan models) that reference “Cola X” or “Company X.” Forexample, a market share model can include sub-models modeling each of aplurality of competitors competing with Company Y for market share. Themarket share model can further define markets, such as a soft drinkmodel and include models modeling members within this market, such asindividual cola products (including Cola X).

As a result of its scan, in some implementations, a data scanner 605 cangenerate (or identify previously-generated) tags that correspond toCompany X, competitors of Company Y, Cola X, a soft drink market, colaproducts, among other elements (at varying levels of aggregation)defined within this example plan model and assign these tags to theemail based on identifying the mention of “Cola X” and/or “Company X”.As a result of the tagging, subsequent (or contemporaneous) userinteractions with the plan model to investigate aspects relating to thesoft drink market, competitor companies, Cola X or Company Xspecifically, etc. can be enhanced to identify that the email has beentagged as related to the user's interactions. Further, structured data(e.g., of the corresponding plan models to which a piece of unstructureddata has been mapped through the scanning) can be presented (e.g., in aGUI) together with such unstructured data to which it is mapped.Further, a user can access the email (or other unstructured data)through the GUI presentation, further tag the email, edit the tags tothe email (e.g., add tags, delete tags assigned automatically by thescanner 605, etc.), among other activities.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, unstructured data 610 a, in someimplementations, can be sourced from a variety of different sources andcan be embodied in a variety of different input types. In one example,one or more email systems (e.g., 615) can provide email (e.g., from acorporate email system related to the corporation associated with theplan models 501) for use by data scanner 605 in supplementing data ofthe structured plan models. In one example, the data scanner 605 canmine a repository storing emails previously sent or received using theemail system 615. In another example, the data scanner 605 can interceptemails as they are sent or received from the email system 615 to scanthe emails in real time, among other examples. In another example, adiscussion system 620 can facilitate electronic communications betweenusers within (and potentially also outside) an organization. The usermessages may also be unstructured and can also be fed into or otherwiseaccessed by the data scanner as at least a portion of the unstructureddata inputs 610 a. Third-party or external sources, such as systems(e.g., 625) providing third-party email, messaging, telephony, andsocial media platforms, can also make unstructured data available to theplanning system and/or data scanner 605, via one or more APIs (e.g.,645). Thus, while a limited subset of users in an organization maycontrol or manage information in a particular portion of the network ofplan models for that organization, communications and discussionsinvolving other users (inside and outside the organization) and embodiedas unstructured data can be mined for information relevant to thosedomains modeled in the plan model(s) and managed by one or moremanagers, among other examples. Accordingly, the knowledge base andinformation sources facilitating the plan models (and planningactivities utilizing the plan models) can be broadened. Any form of datathat is unstructured can be utilized. Further, structured data of otherentities (e.g., a third party social media provider, ecommerce site,third party customer relationship management (CRM) services, or othersources) may be considered unstructured to the planning system and datascanner 605, as the structure of such data may be proprietary orotherwise obscured to the planning system (i.e., the structure of thedata is only full known to the owner or source of the data and not theplanning system).

FIG. 7 is a simplified block diagram 700 illustrating a detailed exampleof processing of unstructured data inputs (e.g., 610 a) by an exampledata scanner 605. In this example, a pipeline component is integratedinto the data scanner to access or route any incoming text data to thedata scanner for processing. Upon receiving the unstructured text data,the data scanner can convert 705 the text data to a common format, suchas raw English text. Depending on the original format of theunstructured input 610 a, conversion 705 of the text data can includeperforming optical character recognition (OCR) on the input, performinga speech-to-text conversion, removing formatting tags (e.g., HTML, XML,CSS, or other tags), translating the text from its native language(e.g., German, Russian, Chinese, etc.) to the common language (e.g.,English) used by the data scanner 605, among other example processes.

With the unstructured input converted to raw text, the data scanner canperform one or more cycles of natural language processing 710 on thetext (e.g., supplemented by machine learning algorithms) to determinesemantics, or meanings, for individual words (or terms) in the text, aswell as phrases or paragraphs in the input (comprising multiple terms).Determining the one (or more) most likely meanings for each term can bebased on the overall context of the content of the input (e.g., how andwhere the term is used in a phrase or paragraph, etc.). The type of theinput can also be considered to derive context for the terms'definitions, as well as titles, subject lines, headers, etc. included inthe input (e.g., that the input is a product review or an email, asubject line of the email, a title of a webpage on which the message(input) was posted, etc.), among other examples.

Having determining the semantics of the individual terms included in theunstructured inputs (e.g., 610 a), metadata can be defined that maps theterms to these semantic definitions. The defined terms can then serve asthe basis of queries of an associated network of plan models (e.g., 715)for model elements matching or similar to these defined terms. Tags canbe determined 720 to be assigned to individual unstructured inputs basedon correlations between the determined content of the input and variousmodel elements and/pr attributes defined in the plan models. In someinstances, rather than searching 715 the plan model for every term foundin an input, a corpus of pre-determined or—defined tags can be searchedfor correspondence with the inputs' terms. If terms are found to matchwith pre-determined tags, these tags can also be determined to apply tothe corresponding inputs. Where terms are found to match model elementsfor which no tag has yet been defined, a new tag can be generated (e.g.,by the data scanner) and added to the corpus of tags. User-defined tagscan also be generated to supplement those automatically determined fromthe structure of the network of plan models, among other examples.

In some cases, upon determining 720 that one or more tags should beassociated with a given unstructured input, the tags can be assigned, ortagged, to the input (e.g., at 610 b) and a copy of the taggedunstructured input can be stored in a repository for access inconnection with planning activities performed utilizing the network ofplan models. These tags can serve to define a correlation between theunstructured inputs and one or more models or model members in thenetwork of plan models, as detailed elsewhere herein. In some cases, apruning step 725 can be performed before (or after) assigning the tagsto the unstructured input. For instance, in some cases, one or more ofthe determined tags may be determined to be overinclusive orunderinclusive, unpopular with or unhelpful to users (e.g., from recordsgenerated from monitoring user interactions with tagged inputs in theplanning system), or redundant to another (e.g., more popular or useful)tag also determined to be associated with the input, causing the tag tobe pruned and either not added or removed from the copy of theunstructured input. Further, the data scanner (or another element of theplanning system) can include a machine learning component to continuallyassess the quality of tags applied or made available for assignment tounstructured inputs for their value in linking unstructured inputs tothe plan models to facilitate their useful reference during planningactivities conducted with the planning system. Accordingly, a final setof tags can be determined to be assigned to at least a subset of thestream of unstructured inputs received (or otherwise accessed) by thedata scanner to generate a corpus of tagged unstructured inputs (e.g.,610 b) for use during planning activities utilizing the network of planmodels.

As noted above, in addition to identifying general associations betweenunstructured data and particular structured data models in a system,additional tags can be defined relating to unstructured data accessibleto a planning system. For instance, FIG. 8 is a diagram 800 illustratingan example workflow involving collaboration and associating intelligencegleaned from these collaborations with planning activities of theorganization. Users can be associated with one or more roles within theworkflow, and authorization to participate within the various stages ofthe workflow can be based on the users' respective roles. In the exampleof FIG. 8, a variety of different users 805, 810 can participate indiscussions using one or more collaboration platforms, and discussiondata can be generated describing the posts and messages provided by theparticipants during the collaboration 815. Participants in a discussioncan view postings within their own collaboration or discussion. In somecases, within a given discussion, participants can tag individualpostings to indicate that the posting relates to a risk or opportunity,to an assumption of one or more models, or is associated with a businessentity (such as a product, brand, business unit, etc.) modeled in planmodels or other models of an organization.

In addition to the immediate participants in a discussion, taggingpostings within the discussion as related to a particular businessentity can cause other users (e.g., domain owners 810) associated withthat business entity to gain access to the discussion or theindividually tagged postings within the discussion 815. For instance,tagged posts (or other inputs) can be delivered (e.g., via a dashboardinterface, email, or other interface) to other users in response to theposts being tagged as related with business entities associated withother users. The other, non-participant users (e.g., 810) may furthertag postings (generated by the discussion participants (e.g., 805)) toindicate that the posting references or is otherwise associated withadditional business entities, is a risk or opportunity, or is associatedwith one or more assumptions of a model. Further, where the posting hasbeen tagged as a risk or opportunity or as associated with an assumptionof a model, owners or other users associated with the post can provideadditional feedback or comments relating to the tagging (e.g., toqualify or validate the tag, retain or de-promote an indication that adiscussion is a risk or opportunity, provide additional informationrelating to the tagging, etc.), as well as assign tasks from the sameinterface and link the tasks to the tagging, among other examples. Thesetags added to promote (or demote) an input (e.g., as a risk oropportunity) or to expand (or contract) access to other users can beadded on top of the generalized tags tying inputs to specific portionsof the network of plan models.

Intelligence gleaned from collaboration 815 can supplement and improvethe information included in models, such as plan models, used by segmentowners 810 to manage business issues and develop and manage businessplans of an organization. This intelligence can also be used to guideowners in assessing progress of organizational plans, making adjustmentsto associated models, and assigning tasks in the organization to realizethese goals and plans, among other potential uses. For instance, ownerscan utilize this intelligence in their analysis of their correspondingbusiness segment (e.g., at 820), to develop organization intelligence,perform scenario and hypothetical “what-if” analysis using associatedmodels, among other task. Segment owners can additional review thelifecycle of previously identified risks and opportunities, to develop a“post-game analysis” for a plan (e.g., at 825) and understand whenrisks/opportunities were first identified, whether actions were takenagainst them (and if not, why not), whether the risks/opportunities hadany actual impact on their forecasts or plan, among other information.Agility metrics can also be calculated to determine the average timebetween a discussion post and its promotion to risks/opportunities, thetime to convert the risk/opportunity into corresponding action (e.g.,actionable updates to the forecast), among other information. Suchanalyses can be used to improve future planning activities and themodels upon which corresponding plans are developed and defined.

In some examples, in response to identifying risks and opportunitiesfrom a corpus of discussion posts, segment planners can initiatecollaboration with impacted groups or people within the enterprise tounderstand the size and impact of the opportunity or risk. This could befacilitated through the same (or different) discussion tools or viapolling relevant groups for feedback on impact. In addition, tasks canbe assigned to request information or details from specific people tomeet forecast deadlines. Segment planners can then summarize the outcomeof the collaboration and decide to act upon the risk or opportunity soits impact (e.g., on a corresponding forecast driver) is reflected inthe forecasting process. For instance, segment planners can updatedriver forecasts and review the impact on segment forecasts for thevarious forecast drivers as part of the bottoms-up forecast submissionprocess for review by the segment owner. Indeed, segment owners can beresponsible for reviewing and updating the content submitted by theplanner. In addition, they can be responsible for providing an executivesummary for review by management teams. The executive summary can alsocapture a forecast status indicator and its trend from past cycles.Other management team members can be responsible for reviewing theassumptions and executive summary for these segment forecasts,collaborate, and assign tasks on the content. As planning cycles arecompleted, the plan (and underlying plan model, can be versioned, forinstance, based on the knowledge acquired from the discussions andcollaborations facilitated through these solutions.

FIGS. 9A-9M are example screenshots 900 a-m of user interfaces that canbe provided in connection with a discussion system, discussion client(e.g., a dedicated client or web browser used to interface with aweb-based discussion system), and/or planning system. It should beappreciated that these screenshots are but illustrative examples and areprovided to illustrate additional example features of systems andprocesses for integrating collaboration and plan modeling. For instance,in the screenshot 900 a of FIG. 9A, a user interface is provided thatpresents a view of a portion of a plan model of an organization. A usercan select a particular market segment and perform one or moreactivities to analyze a plan associated with the segment. For instance,a variance analysis can be performed and a particular measure (e.g.,gross revenue) can be selected (e.g., from menu 902) for analysis. Theuser interface can present a comparison of the target, or planned, valueof the measure with the forecast value (e.g., based on current and pastmarket observations described in various sources, such as news, marketanalysis, and other sources) for a particular accounting period. Theuser interface can further present a representation (e.g., 904) of thegap (negative or positive) between the target and forecast values. Theuser interface can further include a presentation of the assumptions inthe model that are relevant to the current analysis. As differentanalyses or segments are selected, the user interface can be updatedwith views of corresponding instances or portions of plan models thatrelate to that view. For instance, in FIG. 9B, a view is shown inscreenshot 900 b of a marketing plan model, with key measures beingpresented (e.g., spend domain, budget, approved budget) as well as theassumptions (e.g., in 908 b), that underlie the values or conclusions(e.g., the budget values) of the model in this particular domain (e.g.,marketing domain). Each of the values presented in these user interfaces(in either of the examples of FIGS. 9A and 9B) can be derived throughattribute values and logic of a corresponding software-based plan model.

Forecast values can be defined through a plan model and can be based onone or more assumptions. Returning to the example of FIG. 9A, a set ofassumptions underlying a given forecast (e.g., a gross revenue forecast)can be presented (e.g., in table 908) and indicate, based on acomparison of assumption values with currently observed values (obtainedfrom sources and populating attributes of one or more models), whetherand to what degree the assumption value is accurate. While a planningsystem can automatically determine whether an assumption is below,above, or substantially on target, in some implementations, a user, suchas a segment owner, can also manually indicate whether an assumption ison target or not. For instance, in table 908, a graphic (such as a sunindicating a positive outlook for an assumption or an umbrellaindicating a negative outlook for an assumption) can be provided foreach assumption based on how well it tracks to the target. As users canadjust assumptions of plan models, the user interface can also indicatewhether an assumption of a plan has been adjusted or not (e.g., by anupward or downward arrow in table 908 indicating a change, or a sidewaysarrow indicating that the assumption remains as originally defined inthe plan model), among other examples and presentations. For instance,multiple plan model instances representing previous plans and forecastsof an organization can be analyzed by the planning system to determinethe historical accuracy of a given assumption within an organization (orthe accuracy of a particular owner in charge of setting the assumption).An indication of the historical bias of an assumption (e.g., whether aparticular assumption is historically susceptible to being over-or—under-valued) can also be presented (e.g., at 910) in this or anotheruser interface of the planning model. These indications can serve asguidance to a segment owner or other user in understanding theassumptions underlying a forecast.

The analysis of a plan can be further refined to analyze a particularsubmarket or segment, such as by selecting an icon (e.g., 906) orcontrol of user interface of 900 a corresponding to the segment. In oneexample, icon 906 can be selected to view results of revenue gapanalyses for a mass market segment as well as the individual brandswithin the segment. In response, an updated view can be presented, suchas represented in example screenshot 900 c of FIG. 9C. The revenueforecast value (e.g., $1,507.7M) and target revenue value (e.g.,$1,760.6M) of the segment can reflect the aggregate of the revenueforecasts and targets of each of the brands (e.g., “Cosmo Cola”, “MuseFruit Flavors”, etc.). Likewise, the indication (in table 908) of anassumption's accuracy for the entire segment (e.g., 911 a) can be basedon the aggregate accuracy of the assumptions (e.g., 911 b-d) utilized todevelop the forecast for each sub-component (e.g., brand) of thesegment.

The user interfaces of FIGS. 9A-9C each provide a variety ofopportunities for users to click on an icon or control and furtherrefine (or broaden) the view of a model within a particular domain (oreven to change domains (and potentially the plan models being viewed).For instance, in FIG. 9C, a user can select an icon corresponding to aparticular sub-segment, such as the selection of an individual brandwithin the mass market sales domain. Indeed, upon selecting an image 912corresponding to the soft drink brand “Cosmo Cola”, the user interfacecan transition to a view specific to the Cosmo Cola revenue domain, suchas illustrated by the example screenshot 900 d of FIG. 9D. The exampleof FIG. 9D shows a view of the revenue targets and forecast for theindividual brand Cosmo Cola. A variety of views can be selected,including a view of the forecast assumptions utilized by the model fromwhich the views are generated (e.g., by selecting link 913). Variousgraphs and other presentations of values and information within themodel can be generated and presented to a user. In this example, a graph914 is presented that includes columns representing month-by-monthrevenue targets overlaid with a line graph representing month-by-monthrevenue forecasts. In some cases, the forecasts (or even targets)defined in the model can be adjusted through the user interface's datapresentation (and thereby also change values populating the model). Forinstance, a user can select a graph element (e.g., 916) and drag theelement to adjust the forecast for a particular month (e.g., M04-2013),for instance, in response to user feedback indicating that an assumptionor forecast is incorrect (e.g., based on a discussion monitored inconnection with the Cosmo Cola brand). In the example of FIG. 9D, forinstance, a user may have adjusted the revenue forecasts downwardrelative to the target revenue, from M04-2013 onward, based on an event,news item, information in a discussion, or other information known tothe user (e.g., a user familiar with why the original forecast was setand why this information affects that forecast), among other examples.

Continuing with the example of FIG. 9D, the assumptions underlying theplan model's calculation or definition of target and/or forecastedrevenue (or any other measure presented in the user interface based onan underlying plan model) can be presented for the domain (e.g., theCosmo Cola brand). The assumptions in this example match the assumptionsdisplayed in the presentations of FIGS. 9A and 9C, namely “Market SizeAssumptions” (e.g., an estimated size of the market), “ProductAssumptions” (e.g., the product offerings that are planned to be offeredto meet the demand of the market), “Price Assumptions” (e.g., the priceat which the products will be sold to remain competitive), “PromotionAssumptions” (e.g., the types, scope, and duration of promotions to beoffered in connection with the products), and “Executive Summary” (e.g.,an aggregate summary of the assumptions of interest within this domain(e.g., Market Size Assumptions, Product Assumptions, Price Assumptions,Promotion Assumptions, etc.)), among potentially other examples. Aseries of graphical circles (e.g., at 915), or other graphical element,can be presented with each assumption included in the plan model. Eachcircle can represent the real or anticipated accuracy of an assumptionbased on current information (i.e., information emerging after theassumption was defined). In the example of FIG. 9D, four circles arepresented for each assumption, representing four cycles (e.g., financialquarters). The color of each circle can be set to indicate the degree ofaccuracy of the assumption within a particular cycle. In some cases,software-based logic can identify data that suggest that an assumptionis, or likely is, too low, too high, or on target. Users canalternatively, or additionally, change the assessment of an assumptionby selecting the graphical element (e.g., a circle in row 915) andindicate whether the assumption is or is anticipated to be (e.g., afuture cycle), inaccurate. Varying degrees of inaccuracy can also beindicated and presented in the elements (e.g., 915) to indicategraphically to users the accuracy of a model's assumptions. Forinstance, planning system logic or a user can set a circle to red toindicate that the assumption has been over/under-valued in a negativeway, to green to indicate that the assumption is incorrect in a positiveway (e.g., market size assumption was too low), or set to yellow (orlight green) to indicate that the assumption remains accurate andon-target. Through these interactive graphic element (e.g., 915), orother GUI controls, a user can provide feedback regarding the generalaccuracy of one or more assumptions of a market. The perceived accuracyor inaccuracy of a given assumption can vary from domain-to-domain, orfrom sub-domain-to-sub-domain (e.g., as illustrated in varying green/redvalues of assumptions in table 908 b of FIG. 9C), among other examples.

Additional information and comments can be added by users to helpprovide information for identifying accuracy of model assumptions andwhat conditions are contributing to these assumptions. For instance, asshown in the example of screenshot 900 e of FIG. 9E, a user, such as asegment owner (or other user authorized to manage assumptions within aparticular segment), can select a particular one of the assumptions(e.g., by selecting the circle 918 indicating accuracy of the assumptionin a first cycle) and view discussion posts (e.g., 919) that have beenentered that relate to an indication of an assumption's accuracy. Thesediscussion posts can be captured by a discussion framework offered inconnection with the planning model program providing the model view (inscreenshot 900 e) or may be copies of posts detected on other discussionand collaboration frameworks. For instance, discussion boards, socialnetworks, and other sources can be crawled (e.g., by a crawler tool) toidentify posts that potentially relate to a particular segment.Associations between the post and one or more modeled entities can beidentified. The posts can be tagged to indicate the associations, suchas illustrated by the tags (e.g., 920) in FIG. 9E. In addition toidentifying associations (between a discussion post and a model entity)automatically, users can manually add additional tags to a post (or evenverify computer-recommended associations). Further, based onhierarchical and dimensional relationships defined in the model, tagginga post as related to one modeled entity can cause the tagging topropagate to other related model entities (e.g., causing the post toalso be automatically associated with these related model entities).

Posts that are presented in connection with the assessment of theaccuracy of an assumption can be further tagged by a user to provideadditional information regarding the assumption. For instance, as shownby controls 922, a user can be presented with one or more postingsidentified as related to a particular assumption modeled for aparticular domain and further presented with controls 922 to provideadditional information relating to the posting. For instance, a user canselect a Reply control to generate an additional discussion postingrelating to the post (or for inclusion within the discussion orcollaboration from which the posting 919 originated), or indicateagreement with the contents of the post 919 (e.g., by selecting the“Agree” control), among other examples. A user can also add additionaltags to associate the posting with other modeled entities, and can evenlaunch the creation of a new task (by selecting a Task control) thatwill be automatically associated with the posting 919 and thecorresponding assumption indication (at 918), among other examples.

FIG. 9F shows a screenshot 900 f showing a Create Task window 924 thatcan be displayed in response to a user selecting a Task control. A user(e.g., segment owner) can use window 924 to describe the task that is tobe assigned, designate another user (or group of users) to perform thetask, set a timeframe for completion of the task, attach a file or otherdata for consideration in connection with the task, as well as addfollowers to the task (e.g., other managers or persons in anorganization interested in the task). The task, and additionalinformation added by the user during creation of the task, can beautomatically associated with the assessment of a particularassumption's accuracy and the particular assumption from which the taskwas launched.

Turning now to the example of FIG. 9G, a screenshot 900 g is shownillustrating an additional user interface that can be presented inconnection with a Cosmo Cola brand domain and views of a correspondingportion of a plan model. For instance, a user can toggle between a salesbreakdown interface, a forecast assumption analysis interface, and arisk and opportunity analysis (e.g., “R&O Pulse”), among other exampleviews, through a navigation menu (e.g., 926). A variety of differentviews and analyses can be supported by a user interface of a planningsystem. Additional navigation menus can be provided to allow users toaccess such interface. For instance, as shown in the example of FIG. 9H,a navigation menu 928 can be displayed allowing a user to access avariety of user interfaces, such as shown in example screenshot 900 h.

Returning to the example of FIG. 9G, a risk and opportunity analysiswindow can allow users to view discussion posts associated with acorresponding segment (e.g., a Cosmo Cola brand segment within a MassMarket segment), as well as generate new postings relating to thesegment. For instance, a window 925 can be provided to allow a user(such as an owner accessing and analyzing views of a plan model assignedto the owner) to generate a new post to be associated with acorresponding segment. For instance, the user can select a portion(e.g., column 927) of graph 914 to filter the view to focus on a periodM04-2013 in the revenue forecasts for the Cosmo Cola brand segment.Accordingly, new postings generated within this context (e.g., usingwindow 925) are automatically tagged and associated with Cosmo Cola,period M04-2013, and the Mass Market segment (the parent of Cosmo Cola)as shown through tags 929.

Turning now to FIG. 9I, a set of postings can be identified that areassociated with a particular segment (e.g., Cosmo Cola). These postingscan be presented to a user, such as an owner of the segment. Thepostings can be generated by users participating in discussions hostedon one or several of the planning system, an email server of anorganization, a social networking platform, discussion board platform,or other discussion or collaboration platforms whose data is accessibleusing the planning system. The screenshot 900 i shows a collection ofpostings (e.g., 930, 932, 934, 936) identified and tagged (e.g., 938,940) as associated with the segment. The postings can be generated by avariety of different users through a variety of different collaborationand discussion platforms. Some of the postings can include replies (orcomments) (e.g., 930) to other postings (e.g., 930). Additionally, someof the postings can be promoted as evidence of a risk or opportunity. Insome implementations, a visual indicator (e.g., 937) can be presentedwith the posting to indicate whether the posting has been designated asa risk or opportunity. The user interface can present additionalinformation concerning the postings, including indications (e.g., 942)of when the postings were created and whether the postings are recent,old, etc.

Controls 944 can be provided to allow a user to promote a particularposting (e.g., 934) as evidence of an opportunity or risk, or asevidence of the accuracy of an assumption (or “rationale”) pertaining toa particular segment (e.g., the segments to which the posting istagged). For instance, a user can select a Promote control associatedwith the posting (e.g., 934) to cause a dropdown menu 945 to bepresented, allowing the user to designate the posting 934 as evidence ofeither an opportunity, risk, or rationale corresponding to the segment.For instance, in the particular example of FIG. 9I, the discussion post934 discusses that “[an] opportunity exists for Cosmo Cola to pushadjacencies and power partner across various categories,” which a usercan interpret as representing an opportunity for Cosmo Cola.Accordingly, the user can select to promote the post 934 as an“Opportunity” using the dropdown menu 945. The user can further elect,in some instances, to add a reply or comment to the posting describingwhy the posting was promoted by the user, among other examples.

Turning to FIG. 9J, in some implementations, a user can filter (usingcontrols 946) a set of discussion posts identified as associated with asegment based on whether the posts have been promoted to evidence of arisk or opportunity. The screenshot 900 j further shows an example of auser adding a tag to one or more postings in a collection of postings toassociate the postings within corresponding segments modeled in planmodels of a planning system. For instance, using controls 948, a usercan select a Tag control to cause a text box 950 to be presented to theuser to allow the user to designate a tag to associate the post 948 witha portion of a plan model. In some implementations, the user can entertext in text box 950 causing tag suggestions to be dynamically presentedin a menu 954 corresponding to business entities modeled in one or moremodels (including plan models) of a planning system. For instance, theplanning system can identify models, sub-models, or attributes withinmodels of the planning system that correspond to text entered by theuser in textbox 950. The user can then select the desired available tag(e.g., Cosmo Cola Regular 24 oz corresponding to a product businessentity defined in a plan model) from the menu 954 and cause the tag, andthe corresponding business entity to be associated with the posting 952.Additionally, the tag can cause additional associations to be made withthe post 952, such as the parent brand “Cosmo Cola” of the Cosmo ColaRegular 24 oz product, and the “Mass Market” segment of an organization(which is the parent of the Cosmo Cola brand), among other examples.These associations can then be used in future analyses and to pair thetagged posts with users associated with the business entities andsegments corresponding to the assigned tags.

Other user actions can be taken associated with a discussion post. Forinstance, a user can create a task (from controls 948), such as in theexample of FIG. 9F. Other actions can be taken, such as the assignmentof a state to be associated with a post. For instance, as shown in theexample of FIG. 9K, the State control can be selected by a user fromcontrol menu 948 to cause a dropdown menu 955 to be presented to theuser in response. The state can correspond to a resolution state of arisk or opportunity related to a particular discussion post (e.g., 952).For instance, once a post has been associated with (i.e., promoted to) arisk or opportunity, a state can be defined for the post. States canindicate whether a risk or opportunity has been addressed. States caninclude, as examples, Open (e.g., where no action has been prescribed orcompleted), Acted (e.g., where action has been prescribed, such asthrough the creation of one or more tasks for the risk or opportunity(e.g., using the Task control), but the risk or opportunity is not yetresolved), and Close (e.g., when the risk or opportunity is judged to befully addressed, such as in response to the completion of one or moretasks), among potentially many other examples. An owner can control thestate of a risk or opportunity using dropdown box 955 and selecting orchanging the state that is to be assigned to a particular risk oropportunity. In some instances, state dropdown box 955 can be hiddenwithin a set of controls (e.g., 948) displayed in connection with a post(e.g., 952) and only exposed in response to the promotion of the post(e.g., through the Promote control) to a risk, opportunity, orrationale. In other cases, the State control can be made availablewithin particular user interfaces, such as a user interface associatedwith reviewing previously promoted risks and opportunities (e.g., a R&OPulse window), among other examples. The set of posts promoted to riskor opportunity status and presented to a user, such as a correspondingsegment owner, can be filtered or sorted based on the state assigned tothe post.

A variety of different controls (e.g., 948) can be provided nativelywith a discussion platform's client interface. In some platforms, suchas platforms linked or provided explicitly in connection with a planningsystem, the discussion platform can include more traditional controls,such as “Reply” and “Like” or “Agree” together with the additionalplanning-specific tools used in connection with, and in some casessupported by, plan models of the planning system, such the “Tag”,“Promote”, “State”, and “Task” controls introduced above. Otherdiscussion platforms, such as third party platforms (e.g., platforms notcontrolled by nor natively interoperable with the planning system), maynot natively provide planning-specific controls. However, in someimplementations, the functionality of such third party discussionplatforms can be extended to include planning system-specific controls(e.g., “Tag”, “Promote”, “State”, and “Task” controls), through aplug-in or other modification. In such instances, general purposediscussion tools, such as social network platforms, instant messagingplatforms, email platforms, and/or discussion board platforms can bemodified to provide controls, including planning system specificcontrols, and permit discussion posts on these platforms to beassociated with risks, opportunities, and modeling assumptionsassociated with business entities modeled by the planning system. Notonly this, tasks and state management associated with the planningsystem can also be launched directly from user interfaces of thesediscussion and collaboration platforms, for instance, using a plug-in tosupplement the functionality of the platforms with planning system userinterface controls, including those example controls described hereinamong other examples.

Turning now to the example of FIG. 9L, in some implementations, adiscussion platform can be integrated with programs and logic of aplanning system that allows users, such as segment owners, to review andmanage collections of discussion posts (from potentially multipledifferent discussion platforms and authored by potentially multipledifferent users) as well as promote posts (to risk, opportunity, orrationale) and assign and manage tasks and state of the promoted posts.Accordingly, in some instances, a user can even generate a new postwithin the user interfaces of the planning system, for instance, using apost editor window 958. The newly created post can be tagged(automatically by the planning system or manually by the user) tobusiness entities modeled by the planning system and can also bepromoted to a risk or opportunity. Further, the post can be shared withother users within a planning system (e.g., using “Share with” control962), and the new post can be viewable by these users (e.g., for furthercomments, promotion, task assignments, and so on).

In another example, shown in FIG. 9M, a planning system can includemodels, such as plan models, that enable modeling of various new andexisting business proposals. Assumptions for such proposals (andcorresponding models can include proposal scope, financial analysis,value risk, and among other example assumptions. A graphicalrepresentation (e.g., 964) of information included in a model of theproposal can be presented, as well as user interfaces for assessing theassumptions of the model and analyzing discussion data collected anddetermined to be relevant to the proposal and its assumptions.Accordingly, as in previous examples, a comment or other post (e.g.,966) can be identified or generated in the user interface and associatedwith the post. Controls (e.g., 968) can be provided to allow userintelligence embodied in the content of the post, as well as readers'reactions to the post, to be entered and associated with the associatedbusiness entities (e.g., Cosmo Cola) and proposal, among other examples.

The systems, processes, and tools can be utilized to provide solutionsthat integrate information, included in the massive amounts of largelyfree form communications that occur within, are sent or received by, orthat reference an organization, with the planning activities of theorganization. Risks and opportunities that potentially effect theorganization′ plans can be quickly identified from the content of thesecommunications (or discussion or collaboration data) and connected tothese planning activities, including the persons in charge of thatplanning. Accordingly, such solutions can enable the intelligentpropagation and connection of discussions to relevant enterprise plansand the owners of those plans. Additionally, a variety of assumptionsare made within the decision making/planning processes of anorganization. A planning system can be further equipped withfunctionality for discovering, from these communications, the knowledgeof potentially many persons to inform decision makers and planners ofthe accuracy of these assumptions (and thereby also the assumptions oftheir models). These tools can help people participating in the planningprocess to collaborate within themselves and also seek/solicit inputsfrom other stakeholders (in some cases in real time) by connecting plans(and exceptions).

FIGS. 10A-10E include simplified flowcharts 1000 a-e illustratingexample techniques for integrating plan modeling and usercommunications. In the flowchart 1000 a of FIG. 10A, for instance, auser communication can be identified 1005, such as an email, socialnetwork post, instant message, discussion post, transcription of anaudio conversation or conference, etc. An indication by a user can beidentified 1010 that indicates that the communication representsevidence of a risk or opportunity to an organization. The indication canbe received in connection with the presentation of the communication tothe user who participated in the communication or from anothernon-participant user viewing the presentation of the communication.Based on the indication, the communication can be associated 1015 withthe risk or opportunity. Further, the communication can be identified asrelating to a particular business entity and the risk or opportunity canbe associated with the business entity based on this identifiedrelationship. Additionally, various tasks can be performed in connectionwith managing the risk or opportunity relating to the communication,including the creation and management of tasks, validation of therisk/opportunity, modification of a modeling assumption in response tothe risk/opportunity, among other examples.

Turning to FIG. 10B, a user communication can be determined 1020 toinclude content that relates to a particular one of a plurality ofbusiness entities. A relationship between the particular business entityand another business entity can be defined in one or more software-basedmodels and the relationship can be identified 1025 from these models. Byvirtue of this relationship, the communication can also be associated1030 with the other business entity. Additionally, associations of thecommunication or particular business entity with tags,risks/opportunities, assumption accuracy feedback, tasks, and otheractions can be propagated to cause the same to be associated with theother business entity.

In FIG. 10C, a user can be identified 1035 as being associated with aparticular business entity (e.g., based on a role of the user within thebusiness, planning responsibilities with regard to the business entity,etc.). A relationship can be identified 1040 between the business entityand at least one other business entity. A first set of usercommunications (including user communications from users other than theuser) can be identified 1045 as including content that relates to theparticular business entity. Additionally, a second set of usercommunications can be identified 1050 as including content that relatesto the other business entity. The first and second sets of usercommunications can be caused 1055 to be presented to the user based onthese relationships. For instance, a dashboard or email can be providedfor the user summarizing the communications that have been identified asrelating to business entities for which the user has responsibility,among other examples.

Turning to FIG. 10D, communications can also be associated with forecastassumptions to provide additional intelligence regarding the accuracy ofa forecast of a business model (such as a forecast included in a plan orgoal model). A forecast can be identified 1060 that is modeled by asoftware-based model, the model including one or more assumptionsunderlying the forecast. The forecast can be identified 1060 asassociated with a business entity, for instance, due to the modelmodeling the business entity. A user indication can be received orotherwise identified 1065 indicating whether a particular one of theassumptions is accurate or not and the indication can be associated 1070with the assumption (such as in a model of the assumption). Theindication can be based on evidence included in a user communicationthat relates to the business entity, and this communication can also beassociated with the assumption. The assumption can also be modified tocorrect an inaccuracy, such as in response to the indication. Further,the historical accuracy of an assumption (or the user providing theassumption) can be calculated based on user indications of assumptions'accuracy, among other examples.

Turning to FIG. 10E, an unstructured data input, such as an email orother electronic communication, can be accessed 1075. The unstructureddata input may be a single unstructured input or one of a plurality ofinput included in a stream or collection of unstructured inputs. In somecases, the source the unstructured data input can be received orotherwise accessed via an API facilitating communication between anapplication providing the unstructured data input and a data scanner (orplanning software system hosting the data scanner). Content of theunstructured data input can be parsed 1080 (e.g., using natural languageprocessing techniques) to determine (meanings of) terms or phraseswithin the content of the unstructured data input. The terms can bemapped to particular elements of a structured data model, such as one ormore plan models in an interconnected network of plan models, todetermine 1085 that these particular elements correspond to the terms(and thereby the unstructured data input).

Based on the determined correspondence between the unstructured datainput and particular elements (and/or specific attributes of theseelements), one or more tags can be assigned 1090 to the unstructureddata input to define the association between the unstructured data inputand the structured data model. The tags, in some cases, can alsorepresent how the unstructured data input is related to the structureddata model by defining that the unstructured data input specificallycorresponds to the one or more particular elements of the model. In somecases, sub-models of the structured data model may correspond to theparticular elements and the tags can link the unstructured data input tothese corresponding sub-models. The tags can be used 1905 (e.g., by aplanning system) to supplement and enhance planning activities performedusing the planning system. For instance, values of the structured datamodel can be augmented or modified to reflect information collected fromthe parsing of the unstructured data input and graphical representationsgenerated for visualizing the particular elements of the structured datamodel can be supplemented with presentations of (or controls to accesspresentation of) the associated unstructured data inputs (e.g., taggedwith corresponding tags), among other examples.

Although this disclosure has been described in terms of certainimplementations and generally associated methods, alterations andpermutations of these implementations and methods will be apparent tothose skilled in the art. For example, the actions described herein canbe performed in a different order than as described and still achievethe desirable results. As one example, the processes depicted in theaccompanying figures do not necessarily require the particular ordershown, or sequential order, to achieve the desired results. Systems andtools illustrated can similarly adopt alternate architectures,components, and modules to achieve similar results and functionality.For instance, in certain implementations, multitasking, parallelprocessing, and cloud-based solutions may be advantageous. Additionally,diverse user interface layouts, structures, architectures, andfunctionality can be supported. Other variations are within the scope ofthe following claims.

Embodiments of the subject matter and the operations described in thisspecification can be implemented in digital electronic circuitry, or incomputer software, firmware, or hardware, including the structuresdisclosed in this specification and their structural equivalents, or incombinations of one or more of them. Embodiments of the subject matterdescribed in this specification can be implemented as one or morecomputer programs, i.e., one or more modules of computer programinstructions, encoded on computer storage medium for execution by, or tocontrol the operation of, data processing apparatus. Alternatively or inaddition, the program instructions can be encoded on an artificiallygenerated propagated signal, e.g., a machine-generated electrical,optical, or electromagnetic signal that is generated to encodeinformation for transmission to suitable receiver apparatus forexecution by a data processing apparatus. A computer storage medium canbe, or be included in, a computer-readable storage device, acomputer-readable storage substrate, a random or serial access memoryarray or device, or a combination of one or more of them. A computerstorage medium can be a non-transitory medium. Moreover, while acomputer storage medium is not a propagated signal per se, a computerstorage medium can be a source or destination of computer programinstructions encoded in an artificially generated propagated signal. Thecomputer storage medium can also be, or be included in, one or moreseparate physical components or media (e.g., multiple CDs, disks, orother storage devices), including a distributed software environment orcloud computing environment.

Networks, including core and access networks, including wireless accessnetworks, can include one or more network elements. Network elements canencompass various types of routers, switches, gateways, bridges, loadbalancers, firewalls, servers, inline service nodes, proxies,processors, modules, or any other suitable device, component, element,or object operable to exchange information in a network environment. Anetwork element may include appropriate processors, memory elements,hardware and/or software to support (or otherwise execute) theactivities associated with using a processor for screen managementfunctionalities, as outlined herein. Moreover, the network element mayinclude any suitable components, modules, interfaces, or objects thatfacilitate the operations thereof. This may be inclusive of appropriatealgorithms and communication protocols that allow for the effectiveexchange of data or information.

The operations described in this specification can be implemented asoperations performed by a data processing apparatus on data stored onone or more computer-readable storage devices or received from othersources. The terms “data processing apparatus,” “processor,” “processingdevice,” and “computing device” can encompass all kinds of apparatus,devices, and machines for processing data, including by way of example aprogrammable processor, a computer, a system on a chip, or multipleones, or combinations, of the foregoing. The apparatus can includegeneral or special purpose logic circuitry, e.g., a central processingunit (CPU), a blade, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC),or a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), among other suitable options.While some processors and computing devices have been described and/orillustrated as a single processor, multiple processors may be usedaccording to the particular needs of the associated server. Referencesto a single processor are meant to include multiple processors whereapplicable. Generally, the processor executes instructions andmanipulates data to perform certain operations. An apparatus can alsoinclude, in addition to hardware, code that creates an executionenvironment for the computer program in question, e.g., code thatconstitutes processor firmware, a protocol stack, a database managementsystem, an operating system, a cross-platform runtime environment, avirtual machine, or a combination of one or more of them. The apparatusand execution environment can realize various different computing modelinfrastructures, such as web services, distributed computing and gridcomputing infrastructures.

A computer program (also known as a program, software, softwareapplication, script, module, (software) tools, (software) engines, orcode) can be written in any form of programming language, includingcompiled or interpreted languages, declarative or procedural languages,and it can be deployed in any form, including as a standalone program oras a module, component, subroutine, object, or other unit suitable foruse in a computing environment. For instance, a computer program mayinclude computer-readable instructions, firmware, wired or programmedhardware, or any combination thereof on a tangible medium operable whenexecuted to perform at least the processes and operations describedherein. A computer program may, but need not, correspond to a file in afile system. A program can be stored in a portion of a file that holdsother programs or data (e.g., one or more scripts stored in a markuplanguage document), in a single file dedicated to the program inquestion, or in multiple coordinated files (e.g., files that store oneor more modules, sub programs, or portions of code). A computer programcan be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computersthat are located at one site or distributed across multiple sites andinterconnected by a communication network.

Programs can be implemented as individual modules that implement thevarious features and functionality through various objects, methods, orother processes, or may instead include a number of sub-modules, thirdparty services, components, libraries, and such, as appropriate.Conversely, the features and functionality of various components can becombined into single components as appropriate. In certain cases,programs and software systems may be implemented as a composite hostedapplication. For example, portions of the composite application may beimplemented as Enterprise Java Beans (EJBs) or design-time componentsmay have the ability to generate run-time implementations into differentplatforms, such as J2EE (Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition), ABAP(Advanced Business Application Programming) objects, or Microsoft's.NET, among others. Additionally, applications may represent web-basedapplications accessed and executed via a network (e.g., through theInternet). Further, one or more processes associated with a particularhosted application or service may be stored, referenced, or executedremotely. For example, a portion of a particular hosted application orservice may be a web service associated with the application that isremotely called, while another portion of the hosted application may bean interface object or agent bundled for processing at a remote client.Moreover, any or all of the hosted applications and software service maybe a child or sub-module of another software module or enterpriseapplication (not illustrated) without departing from the scope of thisdisclosure. Still further, portions of a hosted application can beexecuted by a user working directly at a server hosting the application,as well as remotely at a client.

The processes and logic flows described in this specification can beperformed by one or more programmable processors executing one or morecomputer programs to perform actions by operating on input data andgenerating output. The processes and logic flows can also be performedby, and apparatus can also be implemented as, special purpose logiccircuitry, e.g., an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or an ASIC(application specific integrated circuit).

Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include, byway of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors, andany one or more processors of any kind of digital computer. Generally, aprocessor will receive instructions and data from a read only memory ora random access memory or both. The essential elements of a computer area processor for performing actions in accordance with instructions andone or more memory devices for storing instructions and data. Generally,a computer will also include, or be operatively coupled to receive datafrom or transfer data to, or both, one or more mass storage devices forstoring data, e.g., magnetic, magneto optical disks, or optical disks.However, a computer need not have such devices. Moreover, a computer canbe embedded in another device, e.g., a mobile telephone, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), tablet computer, a mobile audio or videoplayer, a game console, a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, or aportable storage device (e.g., a universal serial bus (USB) flashdrive), to name just a few. Devices suitable for storing computerprogram instructions and data include all forms of non-volatile memory,media and memory devices, including by way of example semiconductormemory devices, e.g., EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory devices; magneticdisks, e.g., internal hard disks or removable disks; magneto opticaldisks; and CD ROM and DVD-ROM disks. The processor and the memory can besupplemented by, or incorporated in, special purpose logic circuitry.

To provide for interaction with a user, embodiments of the subjectmatter described in this specification can be implemented on a computerhaving a display device, e.g., a CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquidcrystal display) monitor, for displaying information to the user and akeyboard and a pointing device, e.g., a mouse or a trackball, by whichthe user can provide input to the computer. Other kinds of devices canbe used to provide for interaction with a user as well; for example,feedback provided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback, e.g.,visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback; and input fromthe user can be received in any form, including acoustic, speech, ortactile input. In addition, a computer can interact with a user bysending documents to and receiving documents from a device, includingremote devices, which are used by the user.

Embodiments of the subject matter described in this specification can beimplemented in a computing system that includes a back end component,e.g., as a data server, or that includes a middleware component, e.g.,an application server, or that includes a front end component, e.g., aclient computer having a graphical user interface or a Web browserthrough which a user can interact with an implementation of the subjectmatter described in this specification, or any combination of one ormore such back end, middleware, or front end components. The componentsof the system can be interconnected by any form or medium of digitaldata communication, e.g., a communication network. Examples ofcommunication networks include any internal or external network,networks, sub-network, or combination thereof operable to facilitatecommunications between various computing components in a system. Anetwork may communicate, for example, Internet Protocol (IP) packets,Frame Relay frames, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) cells, voice,video, data, and other suitable information between network addresses.The network may also include one or more local area networks (LANs),radio access networks (RANs), metropolitan area networks (MANS), widearea networks (WANs), all or a portion of the Internet, peer-to-peernetworks (e.g., ad hoc peer-to-peer networks), and/or any othercommunication system or systems at one or more locations.

The computing system can include clients and servers. A client andserver are generally remote from each other and typically interactthrough a communication network. The relationship of client and serverarises by virtue of computer programs running on the respectivecomputers and having a client-server relationship to each other. In someembodiments, a server transmits data (e.g., an HTML page) to a clientdevice (e.g., for purposes of displaying data to and receiving userinput from a user interacting with the client device). Data generated atthe client device (e.g., a result of the user interaction) can bereceived from the client device at the server.

The following examples pertain to embodiments in accordance with thisSpecification. One or more embodiments may provide an apparatus, asystem, a machine readable storage, a machine readable medium, a method,and hardware- and/or software-based logic (e.g., implemented inconnection with a shared memory controller) to determine that acommunication by a first user within a digital collaboration relates toa particular business entity, identify, from one or more businessmodels, a relationship between one or more additional business entitiesand the particular business entity, and associate the communication withthe additional business entities based on the relationship.

In one or more examples, the communication can be associated with one ormore other users based on relationships defined between the one or moreother users and the business entities. The relationships between theusers and the business entities can be based at least in part on rolesof the users within an organization. The communication can be presentedto at least a particular one of the one or more users based on therelationship, and the particular user can be allowed to perform one ormore actions relating to the communication. The one or more actions caninclude associating the communication with a rationale for an assumptionof the model. The one or more actions can include associating thecommunication with a risk involving the particular business entity. Theone or more actions can include associating the communication with anopportunity involving the particular business entity. The one or moreactions can include associating the communication with another businessentity. The one or more actions can include assigning a task associatedwith the communication. The one or more actions can include generating acomment in reply to the communication.

In further examples, the one or more business models can include a planmodel modeling a business plan of an organization. A plan mode canrepresent a respective business outcome expressed as one or morerespective outcome measures and include: one or more input driversrepresenting variables influencing the one or more outcome measures, ascope model defining a domain of the plan model to which the businessoutcome applies, and a sensitivity model corresponding to the domain anddefining one or more dependencies between the input drivers and outcomemeasures. The relationship can be a hierarchical relationship. Therelationship can include both a hierarchical relationship and anon-hierarchical relationship. Tags corresponding to the businessentities can be presented with the communication. The business entitiescan each include at least a respective one of a market segment, aproduct category, a product, a brand, and a business unit. Determiningthat a communication by a first user within a digital collaborationrelates to a particular business entity can include analyzing textcorresponding to the communication to identify a correlation between atleast a portion of the text and at least one model modeling theparticular business entity and/or identifying an assignment of a tag tothe communication by a user, wherein the tag corresponds to theparticular business entity. Tags can be assigned through an interactivecontrol presented with the communication in a user interface. Theinteractive control can be provided that accepts text from a user andprovides suggestions for the tags from business entities included in theone or more business models. The relationship can be defined in a modeland the model models a plurality of market segments.

One or more embodiments may provide an apparatus, a system, a machinereadable storage, a machine readable medium, a method, and hardware-and/or software-based logic (e.g., implemented in connection with ashared memory controller) to identify a forecast modeled by asoftware-based and associated with a particular business entity,receiving a user indication that the communication includes anindication of whether at least a particular one of the assumptions isaccurate, and associating the user indication with the assumption. Theforecast can be generated using a model modeling one or moreassumptions, where the forecast is based on the one or more assumptions.

In one or more examples, it can be identified that a communication by auser within a digital collaboration relates to the particular businessentity and that content of the communication relates to whether theparticular assumption is accurate. The content of the communication canbe determined to relate to whether the particular assumption is accuratebased on a user input. The communication can be presented in a set ofcommunications identified as related to the particular business entityand the input can be received through a control presented with thecommunication. The communication can be by a first user and the userinput can be received from a user different from the first user. Thedifferent user can be identified as a user authorized to provide theuser input for assumptions associated with the particular businessentity. A modification of the assumption can be received. Themodification can modify the model and the model can include a plan modelmodeling a business plan of an organization. The plan model canrepresent a respective business outcome expressed as one or morerespective outcome measures and include one or more input driversrepresenting variables influencing the one or more outcome measures, ascope model defining a domain of the plan model to which the businessoutcome applies, and a sensitivity model corresponding to the domain anddefining one or more dependencies between the input drivers and outcomemeasures. The user indication can include an indication that theassumption is inaccurate and further include an indication of how theassumption is inaccurate.

In further examples, the user indication can include an indication thatthe assumption is accurate. An historical assumption accuracy can becalculated for the assumption based on accuracy of the assumption over aplurality of cycles. The assumption can correspond to one of a pluralityof planning cycles for an organization, such as a current or futureplanning cycle. The assumption can be a particular one of a plurality ofassumptions for the business entity, and a graphical user interface canbe provided that represents each of the plurality of assumptions.Representations of the plurality of assumptions can include interactiverepresentations and user indication can be received through a particularone of the interactive representations corresponding to the particularassumption.

While this specification contains many specific implementation details,these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of anyinventions or of what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions offeatures specific to particular embodiments of particular inventions.Certain features that are described in this specification in the contextof separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in asingle embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described inthe context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multipleembodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination. Moreover,although features may be described above as acting in certaincombinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more featuresfrom a claimed combination can in some cases be excised from thecombination, and the claimed combination may be directed to asubcombination or variation of a subcombination.

Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particularorder, this should not be understood as requiring that such operationsbe performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, orthat all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirableresults. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processingmay be advantageous. Moreover, the separation of various systemcomponents in the embodiments described above should not be understoodas requiring such separation in all embodiments, and it should beunderstood that the described program components and systems cangenerally be integrated together in a single software product orpackaged into multiple software products.

Thus, particular embodiments of the subject matter have been described.Other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims. In somecases, the actions recited in the claims can be performed in a differentorder and still achieve desirable results. In addition, the processesdepicted in the accompanying figures do not necessarily require theparticular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirableresults.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: accessing a unstructureddata input, wherein the unstructured data input comprises an electroniccommunication; parsing content of the unstructured data to determine oneor more terms in the unstructured data input; determining that one ormore particular elements defined in a structured data model correspondto the terms, wherein the structured data model comprises a businessmodel; and assigning tags to the unstructured data based on the termscorresponding to the one or more particular elements, wherein the tagsdefine an association between the unstructured data and the structureddata model.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the unstructured datacomprises one of an email, a user review, and an instant message
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the structured data model is one of aplurality of data models and the tags define an association between theunstructured data input and a particular one of the plurality of datamodels.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of data modelscomprise an interconnected network of r plan models
 5. The method ofclaim 4, wherein each of the plan models respective future outcomes ofan organization.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein each of the planmodels comprises a respective outcome measures model, a respective inputdrivers model, a respective sensitivity model defining dependencies ofoutcome measures modeled in the corresponding outcome measures model oninput drivers modeled in the corresponding input drivers model, and arespective scope model.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein each scopemodel comprises a respective included entities model, one or morerespective included member models, one or more respective includedhierarchies models, one or more respective entity models, one or moremember type models, and one or more member models.
 8. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the one or more particular elements of the structureddata model are included in a plurality of elements of the structureddata model and the structured data model comprises a plurality ofsub-models corresponding to the plurality of elements.
 9. The method ofclaim 8, wherein the tags define an association between the unstructureddata input and one or more of the plurality of sub-models correspondingto the one or more particular elements.
 10. The method of claim 1,wherein accessing the unstructured data inputs comprises receiving theunstructured data input from another system.
 11. The method of claim 10,wherein the unstructured data input is received contemporaneously withcreation of the unstructured data input.
 12. The method of claim 1,further comprising converting the unstructured data inputs to raw text.13. The method of claim 12, wherein parsing the content comprisesperforming natural language processing on the raw text to determinemeanings of the one or more terms in the raw text.
 14. The method ofclaim 13, wherein determining that one or more particular elementsdefined in a structured data model correspond to the terms comprisessearching the structured data model for elements corresponding to themeanings of the terms.
 15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining that a particular tag applies to the unstructured datainput, wherein the particular tag corresponds to an association withanother element; and determining that the particular tag should not beassigned to the unstructured data input.
 16. The method of claim 15,wherein determining that the particular tag should not be assigned tothe unstructured data input comprises determining a deficiency of theparticular tag.
 17. The method of claim 1, further comprising causingone or more values included in the unstructured data input to populatedata in the structured data model corresponding to an attributeassociated with one of the particular elements.
 18. The method of claim1, further comprising causing the unstructured data input to bepresented together with a visualization of the structured data modelbased on the assigned tags.
 19. The method of claim 1, wherein theunstructured data input is a particular one of a plurality ofunstructured data inputs.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein theplurality of unstructured data input comprises inputs of a plurality ofdifferent types from a plurality of different sources.
 21. At least onemachine accessible storage medium having instructions stored thereon,the instructions when executed on a machine, cause the machine to:access a unstructured data input, wherein the unstructured data inputcomprises an electronic communication; parse content of the unstructureddata to determine one or more terms in the unstructured data input;determine that one or more particular elements defined in a structureddata model correspond to the terms, wherein the structured data modelcomprises a business model; and assign tags to the unstructured databased on the terms corresponding to the one or more particular elements,wherein the tags define an association between the unstructured data andthe structured data model.
 22. A system comprising: at least oneprocessor; at least one memory element; and a planning system to: host aplurality of structured data models, wherein the structured data modelscomprise a network of plan models; and receive particular unstructureddata comprising an electronic communication, wherein the planning systemcomprises a data scanner to: parse content of the unstructured data todetermine one or more terms in the unstructured data; determine that oneor more particular elements defined in a structured data modelcorrespond to the terms, wherein the structured data model comprises abusiness model; and assign tags to the unstructured data based on theterms corresponding to the one or more particular elements, wherein thetags define an association between the particular unstructured data andthe structured data model.
 23. The system of claim 22, wherein theplanning system is further to populate a particular attribute in thestructured data model with one or more values determined from theparsing of the unstructured data input based on the association betweenthe particular unstructured data and the structured data model, whereinthe particular attribute is associated with one of the particularelements.
 24. The system of claim 22, wherein the planning system isfurther to: generate a graphical representation of data in thestructured data model; and present the unstructured data input with thegraphical representation based on the assigned tags.
 25. The system ofclaim 22, wherein: the business model comprises a plurality ofinterconnected plan models, each of the plan models a respective futureoutcome of an organization, each of the plan models comprises arespective outcome measures model, a respective input drivers model, arespective sensitivity model defining dependencies of outcome measuresmodeled in the corresponding outcome measures model on input driversmodeled in the corresponding input drivers model, and a respective scopemodel, and each scope model comprises a respective included entitiesmodel, one or more respective included member models, one or morerespective included hierarchies models, one or more respective entitymodels, one or more member type models, and one or more member models.